[he Y((

MMl

ONFESSIONAL

.

N

t

ROMANISM UNMASKED!

The plates of this great book have been twice
mysteriously burned.

Endorsed by the leading Reviews, Magazines, and the
Protestant Press oj the -world.

Its Revelations are terrible Indictments
of Popery.

THE GREAT BOOK OF THE CENTURY!

Fifty Years in the
Church of Rome,

By FATHER CHINIQUY.

INTRIGUES, IMPOSTURES, AND CRIMINAL

INTRIGUES OF PRIESTS.

ROME AND THE ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN.

TRULY VIVID, FASCINATING, AND TRAGIC.

NO HISTORY LIKE IT SINCE LUTHER.

CANNOT BE REFUTED.

There is no book upon the Romish controversy so com-
prehensive as this. It is a complete picture of the inner
working's, aims and objects of Popery. It is from the ex-
perience of a living witness, and challenges contradiction.
It is a large but very valuable work, and is fast becoming a
standard authority. No lover of his country should re-
in;! in ignorant of its contents.

A handsome volume of 832 pages, printed on clear type

on fine tinted paper. It is bound in strong cloth,

marbled edges, and gilt stamp on side and

back. Contains two portraits (one

representing him in priestly

robes) of the venerable

Author.

Sent to any address on receipt of price, $2.25.

ADAM CRAIG. Publisher,
77 to 79 Jackson St., Chicago.

Bristling with Facts. A Timely
and Important Work.

Cloth i6mo, heavy paper, 126 pages, with por-
trait of the author, 75 cents ;
Paper cover, 40 cents.
Sent to any address on receipt of price.

ROMANISM,

THE DANGER AHEAD

By A. J. GROVER.

The writer has given to the people of America
statements of facts and figures which they will
do well to reflect upon. " Romanism has votes
to be cast as a unit. These votes are necessary
in national elections, and in most local elections,
to party success; whichever party will promise
to do most for Romanism, will get them. Here
lies the danger. As in the days when slavery
ruled, everybody interested in the success of a
party caters to Romanism. The national policy
as to slavery almost cost the life of the republic.
There is ten times as much danger to our free
institutions from Romanism now, that there was
from slavery in 1851."

ADAM CRAIG, Publisher,
77 to 79 Jackson St., Chicago.

f he Priest, "fHE ^oman

AND

The Qonfessional

BY FATHER CHINIQUY.

AUTHOR OF "FIFTY YEARS IN THE CHURCH OF ROME," ETC.

THIRTY-FIRST EDITION.

CHICAGO:

ADAM CRAIG, 77~79 JACKSON STREET.

1887.

Copyright, 1880, by
Rev. Charles Chiniou^.

cepBps.

Page.

Biographical 5

Declaration . 16

Preface . 19

-CHAPTER I.

The Struggle before the Surrender of Womanly Self-
respect in the Confessional ...... 21

CHAPTER II.

Auricular Confession a deep Pit of Perdition for the

Priest -... 59

CHAPTER III.

The Confessional is the Modem Sodom ... 77

CHAPTER IV.

How the Vow of Celibacy of the Priests is made easy by

Auricular Confession 87

CHAPTER V.

The highly-educated and refined Woman in the Confes-
sional — What becomes of her after unconditional
surrender — Her irreparable Ruin .... 98

4: CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

Auricular Confession destroys all the Sacred Ties of Mar-
riage and Human Society 117

CHAPTER VII.

Should Auricular Confession be tolerated among Civilized

Nations? . . 160

CHAPTER VIII.
Does Auricular Confession bring Peace to the Soul? . 17?

CHAPTER IX.

The Dogma of Auricular Confession a Sacrilegious Im-
posture , 209

CHAPTER X.

God compels the" Church of Rome to confess the Abomi-
nations of Auricular Confession .... 242

CHAPTER XI.
Auricular Confession in Australia, America, and France 260

CHAPTER XII.

A Chapter for the Consideration of Legislators, Hus-
bands, and Fathers — Some of the matters on which
the Priest of Rome must question his Penitents . 290

BIOGRAPHICAL

wpe 13 cpppy?

important ewN£i* DecajaEjwjs

ESTABLISHING THE HIGH CHARACTER AND STANDING OF
PASTOR CHINIQUY WHEN IN THE CHURCH OP ROME.

ME. Chiniquy is one of the most conspicuous
champions of Protestantism of the present
day. He was invited to Scotland by her leading
ecclesiastics to take part in the Tercentenary of the
Reformation, and to England in later years, when
all her leading Protestants stood forth to honor
the Emperor William of Germany and Prince
Bismarck for their noble resistance to Papal pre-
tensions to authority in Germany. He then, in
1874, addressed the great gathering in Exeter Hallr
over which Lord Russell presided ; and afterwards,
ibr six months, lectured throughout England on

6 BIOGRAPHICAL.

the invitation of Ministers of every Evangelical
Denomination.

Of such a man with such a history of struggles,,
services and success, the Protestants all over the
world need not be ashamed.

During the last two years he has lectured and,
preached to crowded houses in Australia, receiving
from the clergy and people of that country many
testimonials of their esteem and regard for his
valuable services in the cause of Protestantism.

It is well known that Father Chiniquy rose into
general notoriety in Canada as an Apostle of Tem-
perance. But long before this — when a parish
priest, and even when a student— he was held in
high repute. The sketch of his early life is as fol-
lows : Born at Kamouraska, Canada, July 30,
1809. His father's name, Charles Chiniquy, his
mother's, Peine Perrault, both natives of Quebec.
His father died in 1821 ; his mother in 1830. After
his father's death, a rich uncle, by name Amable
Dionne, a member of the upper House of Parlia-
ment in Canada, who had married his mother's
sister, took him in charge, and sent him to the
College of St. Nicholet, With which he was con-
nected from 1822 to 1833, attaining high honors as
a linguist and mathematician. His moral conduct
got him the name among his fellow-students of*

BIOGRAPHICAL. T ,

St. Louis Gonzaque de Nicholet. He was ordained;
a priest in 1833, in the Cathedral of Quebec, hj
Bishop Sinaie, and began his ministry at St.:
Charles, on the river Berger, Canada. After this
he was Chaplain to the Marine Hospital, and there
studied under Dr. Douglas the effects of alcohol
on the human system. He became convinced that
it was poisonous, and its general use criminal. He
wrote to Father Matthew, of Ireland, and soor
after started the Temperance Crusade among the
Roman Catholics of Canada. He began at Beau-
port, where he was parish priest. There were them
seven taverns or hotels, but no school. In two-
years he had seven schools, and not a single tavern:
in the parish. A Temperance Column was erected
in that town to commemorate his achievements in
this good work. He was soon transferred to the
larger parish of Kamouraska ; but he shortly gave
up his parish duties and transferred his headquar-
ters to Montreal, to devote his whole time to the
cause of temperance, — from 1846 to 1851. As the
result, all the distilleries were closed except two in
the whole Province.

These noble efforts were publicly acknowledged.
We refer to four distinct acts of recognition among
many. The first is the Address of the Indepen-
dent Order of Rechabites of Canada, and dated

8 BIOGRAPHICAL.

Montreal, 31st August, 1848, with Mr. Chiniquy 's
reply. It is creditable to the Protestants of Lower
Canada that they so honored a priest of the Church
of Rome when doing a noble work for the general
good of the country. Both documents are worthy
of the cause. Instead of taking glory to himself
for this success, Mr. Chiniquy uses these words in
the course of his reply: u Persuaded that this
success is solely the work of God — to Him be all
the glory ! ' ' The great city of Montreal was
moved to gratitude, and a Gold Medal was pre-
sented to him in the name of the city, with these
words on one side —

To Father Chiniquy,

Apostle of Temperance,

Canada.

And on the other —

Honor to his Virtues,
Zeal and Patriotism.

The Canadian Parliament moved also in his
lionor, and voted to him an Address and Five
Hundred Pounds as a public token of the gratitude
of a whole people.

The fame of his labors in the cause of Temper-
ance reached the Pope, and through an aspiring
priest who visited Pome about that period, the
Pope's Blessing was sent to Mr. Chiniquy, as tes-

BIOGRAPHICAL. \)

tified by the following letter. The translations are
verbatim, no freedom being taken to render them
into more idiomatic English : —

[translation]

"Home, 10th August, 1850.
" Sir, and very Dear Friend :

"It is only Monday, the 12th, that it has been
given me to have a private audience with the Sov-
ereign Pontiff. I have taken the opportunity to
present to him your book, with your letter, which
he has received — I do not say with that goodness
which is so eminently characteristic — but with all
special marks of satisfaction and of approbation,
while charging me to state to you that He accords
his Apostolic Benediction to you and to the holy
work of Temperance which you preach.

"I esteem myself happy to have had to offer
on your behalf to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, a book
which, after it had done so much good to my coun-
trymen, has been able to draw from his venerable
mouth such solemn words of approbation of the
Temperance Society, and of blessing on those who
are its apostles ; and it is also for my heart a very
sweet pleasure to transmit them to you.
" Your friend,

" Charles T. Baillargeon,

"Priest."

Following this we give the general circular fur-
nished to him by the Bishop of Montreal, in which
he is designated Apostle of Temperance.
[translation.]
Ignatius Bourget.
" By the divine mercy and grace of the Holy
Apostolic See, Bishop of Marianopolis (Montreal).

10 BIOGRAPHICAL.

" To all who would inspect the present Letter
we make known and testify : — That the venerable
Charles Chiniquy, Apostle of Temperance, Priest
of our Diocese, is very well known to us, and re-
gard him as proved to lead a praiseworthy life and
one agreeable to his ecclesiastical profession —
through the tender mercies of our God under no
ecclesiastical censures, at least which have come to
our knowledge, by which he might be restricted.
We entreat each and all Archbishops, Bishops and
other dignitaries of the Church, to whom it may
happen that he may go, that they for the love of
Christ entertain him kindly and courteously, and
as often as they may be asked by him, permit him
to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and
exercise other ecclesiastical privileges and works
of piety. We showing ourselves ready for similar
and greater things. In confidence of which we
have ordered the present general Letter to be pre-
pared under our sign and seal, and with the sub-
scription of the secretary of our Episcopate at
Marianople, in our Palace of the Blessed James,
in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty,
on the sixth day of the month of June.

"f Ignatius,

' ' Bishop of Marianopolis.
" By order of the most illustrious and most rev-
erend Bishop of Marianopolis, D. D.

"J. O. Pare, Canon,

" Secretary '."

His high position was now universally acknowl-
edged, and he was chosen by the dignitaries of the
Church of Rome to lead a new and important
movement. It was to take possession of the Val-
ley of the Mississippi, and form a new Roman.

BIOGRAPHICAL. 11

Catholic colony in the very centre of the Unitec*
States. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Chicago^
Bishop Vandevelt, came to Canada to confer with
him on the subject. The proposal was to transfer
thousands of French Canadians, zealous Roman
Catholics, to this new territory, and Father Chini-
quy was to conduct the enterprise and be the new
champion of Rome. He accepted the offer. He
went and surveyed the land, selected the territory,,
and returning to Canada took over to the new
colony a first batch of five thousand emigrants, all
zealous for the Church in this new movement.

Before finally taking up his quarters in St. Anne,
Kankakee, State of Illinois, the seat of the chosen
colony, he requested his official dismission from the
diocese of Montreal, with which he had been con-
nected for the five previous years. We give the
answer in full, to show his standing when he left
Canada for his new field.

[translation.]

''Montreal, 13th October, 1851.
" Sir: — You ask me the permission to leave the
diocese to go to offer your services to the Mo n seig-
neur of Chicago. As you belong to the diocese of
Quebec, I believe that it appertains to Monseig-
neur, the Archbishop, to give you the exeat which
you ask. For me, 1 cannot but thank you for your
labors among us; and I wish you in return the
most abundant blessings of Heaven. You shall

12 BIOGRAPHICAL.

ever be in my remembrance and in my heart ; and
I hope the Divine Providence will permit me at a
future time to testify to you all the gratitude that
I feel within me. Meanwhile,
u I remain, dear sir,

u Your very humble and obedient servant,
" f Ignatius,

' ' Bishop of Montreal.
"Mr. Chiniquy, Priest."

Thus he left Canada in the highest repute with
the hierarchy of Pome. But a few years passed
when the colony had expanded to the occupation
of forty square miles, and thousands were still
pouring in, not only from Canada, but from the
Poman Catholic population of Europe. But in an
■evil day for Pome, Bishop Yandevelt was removed,
and an Irish Bishop, O'Keagan, took his place,
and at once began to obstruct and oppress the
French settlers. Here we state to Americans
what is well known in Canada, that the French and
Irish Poman Catholics seldom agree — there are
violent feuds between them. The violence, oppres-
sion and injustice of the Irish Bishop O'Peagan
drove Father Chiniquy into resistance and to ap-
peals to the outside Poman Catholic world for
redress and deliverance from oppression. It came
even to the Pope, and he sent Cardinal Bedeni to
Ohicago to investigate the dispute. He declared
O'Peagan to be in the wrong, and he was removed.

BIOGRAPHICAL. IS

and Bishop Smith, of Iowa, took O'Reagan's place.
While this storm was raging, God was opening the
eyes of Father Chiniquy more and more to the real
apostacy of the modern Papal Church from the old
original Christian Church of Rome.

The hour of his deliverance was approaching,
and God had chosen the field for the first fierce en-
counter under the liberty of the Stars and Stripes
of the Republic of America. Anywhere else he
would most likely be crushed to earth, but here he
found freedom, and a noble-hearted advocate, when
fiercely prosecuted, in the person of "honest"
Abraham Lincoln, afterwards America's greatest
President since the days of Washington.

To show that up to the time of his severance
from Rome he bore the highest character, the fol-
lowing letter, from Bishop Baillargeon, of so late
a date as 9th May, 1856, five years after he left
Canada, amply proves.

[translation.]
"Archbishopric of Quebec, 9th May, 1856.

" Miss : — I send you, for Mr. Chiniquy, an or-
nament [chasuble], with the necessary linen from
which to make a cassock ; and a chalice ; the whole
indifferently packed, as, I suppose, you will find a
place for all in your trunk. And I pray God to
bless you, and conduct you happily in your journey.
" Your devoted servant, C. J., Bishop of Tloa."

" To Miss Caroline Descormers,
4 ' Of the Convent of the Ursulines of Three Rivers. ' ?

14 ^rOORAPHl'CAL.

The Bishop senits by a nun of the Ursuline Con-
vent of Three Rivers a present to Mr. Chiniquy,
consisting of a chasuble, or the embroidered gar-
ment with a cross on the back, and a pillar in front,
worn by priests ; materials to make a cassock, and
a chalice to perform Mass, as proofs of his highest
confidence and esteem. Well would it be for the
honor of the Church of Rome if she had many
priests like him in the ranks of her clergy.

We now give the declaration of Bishop O'Rea-
gan respecting Mr. Chiniquy' s character, as sworn
to by the four Roman Catholics whose names are
appended. This written reply was given by Bishop
O' Reagan on the 27th August, 1856, to the depu-
tation who waited on him. This has been pub-
lished all over Canada, in French and English, in
reply to certain accusations of Vicar-General Bru-
yere : —

" 1st. I suspended Mr. Chiniquy on the 19th of
this month.

" 2nd. If Mr. Chiniquy has said Mass since, as
you say, he is irregular ; and the Pope alone can
restore him in his ecclesiastic and sacerdotal func-
tions.

u 3rd. I take him away from St. Anne, despite
his prayers and yours, because he he has not been
willing to live in peace and in friendship with the
Reverends M. L. and M. L., although I admit they
were two bad Priests, whom I have been forced to
expel from my diocese.

BIOGRAPHICAL. 15

" 4th. My second reason for taking Mr. Chini-
quy away from St. Anne, to send him in his new-
mission, south of Illinois, is to stop the lawsuit
Mr. Spink has instituted against him ; though I
cannot warrant that the law suit will be stopped for
that.

" 5th. Mr. Chiniquy is one of the best Priests
of my diocese, and I do not want to deprive my-
self of his services ; and no accusations against the
morals of that gentlemen have bee.n proved before
me.

" 6th. Mr. Chiniquy has demanded an inquest,
to prove his innocence of certain accusations made
against him, and has asked me the names of his
accusers to confound them ; and I have refused it
to him.

"7th. Tell Mr. Chiniquy to come and meet
me — to prepare himself for his new mission, and I
will give him the letters he needs, to go and labor
there.

" Then we withdrew and presented the foregoing
letter to Father Chiniquy.

Frs. Bechard,
"J. B. L. LemoinEj.
" Basilique Allair,
" Leon Mailloux."

Nothing more can be wanted to establish the
moral reputation of Mr. Chiniquy, so long as he
remained in the Church of Rome.

TO HIS LORDSHIP BOURGET, BISHOP OP MONTREAL.

" Sir,—

" Since God lias, in His infinite mercy, been
pleased to show us the errors of Rome, and has
given us strength to abandon them to follow Christ,
we deem it our duty to say a word on the abomina-
tions of the confessional. You well know that
these abominations are of such a nature that it is
impossible for a woman to speak of them without
a blush. How is it that among civilized, Christian
men, one has so far forgotten the rule of common
decency, as to force women to reveal to unmarried
men, under the pains of eternal damnation, their
most secret thoughts, their most sinful desires, and
their most private actions ?

" How, unless there be a brazen mask on your
priest's face, dare they go out into the world hav-
ing heard the tales of misery which cannot but

BIOGRAPHICAL. 17

defile the hearer, and which the woman cannot re-
late without having laid aside modesty, and all
sense of shame ? The harm would not be so great
should the Church allow no one but the woman to
accuse herself. But what shall we say of the
abominable questions that are put to them and
which they must answer ?

" Here, the laws of common decency strictly for-
bid us to enter into details. Suffice it to say, were
husbands cognizant of one-tenth of what is going
on between the confessor and their wives, they
would rather see them dead than degraded to such
a degree.

' ' As for us, daughters and wives of Montreal
who have known by experience the filth of the
confessional, we cannot sufficiently bless God for
having shown us the error of our ways in teaching
us that it is not at the feet of a man as weak and
as sinful as ourselves, but at the feet of Christ
alone, that we must seek salvation."

Julien Herbert, Marie Rogers,

J. Kochon. Louise Picard,

Francoise Diringer, Eugenie Martin,
And forty-three others.

P^EF^CE.

EZEKIEL.
Chapter VIII.

1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month,
in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the
elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God
fell there upon me.

2. Then I beheld, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of
fire ; from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire ;
and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of bright-
ness, as the color of amber.

3. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by
a lock of mine head ; and the spirit lifted me up between the
earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to
Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward
the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, wh^h
provoketh to jealousy.

4. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there,
according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

5. II Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes
now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the
way toward the north; and behold, northward, at the gate of
the altar, this imago of jealousy in the entry.

6. He said furthermore unto me; Son of man, seest thou
what they do? — even the great abominations that the house of
Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanc-
tuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater
abominations.

7. IF And he brought me to the door of the court; and
when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

8. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall:
and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door.

9. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked
abominations that they do here.

20 PREFACE.

10. So I went in and saw; and, behold, every form of
creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the
house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.

11. And there stood before them seventy men of the an-
cients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood
Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in
his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what
the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man
in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth,
us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.

13. ^T He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou
shalt see greater abominations that they do.

14. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the
Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there
sat women weeping for Tammuz.

15. If Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 Son of
man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abomina-
tions than these.

16. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's
house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord,
between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty
men, with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and
their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun
toward the east.

17. U Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, 0 Son
of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah, that they
commit the abominations which they commit here? for they
have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke
me to anger; and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

18. Therefore will I also deal in fury : mine eye shall not
spHre, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in min«
ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

®5? JPripsf, iQp Woman, anb tijp
CjonfpssionaL

CHAPTER I.

THE STRUGGLE BEFORE THE SURRENDER OF WOMANLY
SELF-RESPECT IN THE CONFESSIONAL.

THERE are two women who ought to be con-
stant objects of the compassion of the disci-
ples of Christ, and for whom daily prayers ought
to be offered at the mercy-seat— the Brahmin wom-
an, who, deceived by her priests, burns herself on
the corpse of her husband to appease the wrath of
her wooden gods ; and the Roman Catholic woman,
who, not less deceived by her priests,_snflers a
torture far more cruel and ignominious in the con-

fessional-box, to appease the wrath of her wafer-

P'

od.

For I do not exaggerate when I say, that for
many noble-hearted, well-educated, high-minded

22 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

women, to be forced to unveil their hearts before-
the eyes of a man, to open to him all the most se-
cret recesses of their souls, all the most sacred
mysteries of their single or married life, to allow
'him to put to them questions which the most de-
praved woman would never consent to hear from
her vilest seducer, is often more horrible and intol-
erable than to be tied on burning coals.

More than once, I have seen women fainting in
the confessional-box, who told me afterwards, that
the necessity of speaking to an unmarried man on
certain things, on which the most common laws of
decency ought to have for ever sealed their lips,,
had almost killed them ! Not hundreds, but
thousands of times, I have heard from the lips of
dying girls, as well as of married women, the
awful words; "I am forever lost! All my past
confessions and communions have been so many
sacrileges ! I have never dared to answer correctly
the questions of my confessors ! Shame has sealed
my lips and damned my soul l"

How many times I remained as one petrified, by
the side of a corpse, when these last words having
hardly escaped the lips of one of my female peni-
tents, who had been snatched out of my reach by
the merciless hand of death, before I could give
her pardon through the deceitful sacramental abso-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

9?

lution ? I then believed, as the dead sinner herself
had believed, that she^ould not be forgiven except
by that absolution.

For there are not only thousands but millions of
Roman Catholic girls and women whose keen sense
of modesty and womanly dignity are above all the
sophisms and diabolical machinations of their
priests. They never can be persuaded to answer
"Yes" to certain questions of their confessors.
They would prefer to be thrown into the flames,
and burnt to ashes with the Brahmin widows,
rather than allow the eyes of a man to pry into the
sacred sanctuary of their souls. Though some-
times guilty before God, and under the impression
that their sins will never be forgiven if not con-
fessed, the laws of decency are stronger in their
hearts than the laws of their cruel and perfidious
Church. No consideration, not even the fear of
eternal damnation, can persuade them to declare to/
a sinful man, sins which God alone has the right
to know, for He alone can blot them out with the
blood of His Son, shed on the cross.

But what a wretched life must that be of those
exceptional noble souls, which Rome keeps in the
dark dungeons of her superstition ? They read in
all their books, and hear from all their pulpits, that
if they conceal a single sin from their confessors,

24 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

they are forever lost ! But, being absolutely un-
able to trample under their feet the laws of self-
respect and decency, which God Himself has im-
pressed in their souls, they live in constant dread
of eternal damnation. No human words can tell
their desolation and distress, when at the feet of
their confessors, they find themselves under the
horrible necessity of speaking of things, on which
they would prefer to suffer the most cruel death
rather than to open their lips, or to be forever
damned if they do not degrade themselves forever
in their own eyes, by speaking on matters which a

/^respectable woman will never reveal to her own

^mother, much less to a man !

I have known only too many of these noble-
hearted women, who, when alone with God, in a
real agony of desolation and with burning tears,
had asked Him to grant them what they considered
the greatest favor, which was, to lose so much of
their self-respect as to be enabled to speak of those
unmentionable things, just as their confessors
wanted them to speak ; and, hoping that their pe-
tition had been granted, they went again to the
confessional-box, determined to unveil their shame
before the eyes of that inexorable man. But when
the moment had come for the self-immolation, their
courage failed, their knees trembled, their lips be-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 25

came pale as death, cold sweat poured from all
their pores! The voice of modesty and womanly
self-respect was speaking louder than the voice of
their false religion. They had to go out of the
confessional-box unpardoned — nay, with the burden
of a new sacrilege on their conscience.

Oh ! how heavy is the yoke of Rome — how bit-
ter is human life — how cheerless is the mystery of
the cross to those deluded and perishing souls !
How gladly they would rush into the blazing piles
with the Brahmin women, if they could hope to
see the end of their unspeakable miseries through
the momentary tortures which would open to them
the gates of a better life !

I do here publicly challenge the whole Roman
Catholic priesthood to deny that the greater part of
their female penitents remain a certain period of
time — some longer, some shorter — under that most
distressing state of mind.

Yes, by far the greater majority of women, at
first, find it impossible to pull down the sacred
barriers of self-respect which God Himself has built
around their hearts, intelligences, and souls, as the
best safeguard against the snares of this polluted
world. Those laws of self-respect, by which they
cannot consent to speak an impure word into the
ears of a man, and which shut all the avenues of

26 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

the heart against his unchaste questions, even when
speaking in the name of God — those laws of self-
respect are so clearly written in their conscience,
and they are so well understood by them, to be a
most Divine gift, that, as I have already said,
many prefer to run the risk of being forever lost
by remaining silent.

It takes many years of the most ingenious (I do
not hesitate to call it diabolical) efforts on the part
of the priests to persuade the majority of their
female petitents to speak on questions, which even
pagan savages would blush to mention among
themselves. Some persist in remaining silent on
those matters during the greater part of their lives,
and many prefer to throw themselves into the
hands of their merciful God, and die without sub-
mitting to the defiling ordeal, even after they have
felt the poisonous stings of the enemy, rather than
receive their pardon from a man, who, as they feel,
would have surely been scandalized by the recital
of their human frailties. All the priests of Rome
are aware of this natural disposition of their female
penitents. There is not a single one — no, not a
single one of their moral theologians, who does not
warn the confessors against that stern and general

determination of the girls and marred women never
to speak in the confessional on matters which may,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. Zi

more or less, deal with sins against the seventh
commandment. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Bailly,
<fcc, — in a word, all the theologians of Rome —
own that this is one of the greatest difficulties
which the confessors have to contend with in the
confessional-box.

Not a single Roman Catholic priest will dare to
deny what I say on this matter ; for they know
that it would be easy for me to overwhelm them
with such a crowd of testimonies that their grand
imposture would forever be unmasked.

I intend, at some future day, if God spares me-
and gives me time for it, to make known some of
the innumerable things which the Roman Catholic
theologians and moralists have written on this
question. It will form one of the most curious
books ever written ; and it will give unanswerable
evidence of the fact that, instinctively, without
consulting each other, and with an unanimity which
is almost marvellous, the Roman Catholic women,
guided by the honest instincts which God has given
them, shrink from the snares put before them in
the confessional-box ; and that everywhere they
struggle to nerve themselves with a superb u man
courage, against the torturer who is sent by the
Pope, to finish their ruin and to make shipwreck
of their souls. Everywhere woman feels that there-

28 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

are things which ought never to be told, as then
are things which ought never to be done, in the
presence of the God of holiness. She understands
lhat, to recite the history of certain sins, even of
sthought, is not less shameful and criminal than to
/do them ; she hears the voice of God whispering
into her ears, "Is it not enough that thou hast
been guilty once, when alone in My presence, with-
out adding to thine iniquity by allowing that man
to know what should never have been revealed to
him ? Do you not feel that you make that man
your accomplice, the very moment that you throw
into his heart and soul the mire of your iniquities ?
<lle is as weak as you are ; he is not less a sinner
/than yourself; what has tempted you will tempt
him ; what has made you weak will make him
weak; what has polluted you will pollute him;
what has thrown you down into the dust, will throw
him into the dust. Is it not enough that My eyes
had to look upon your iniquities ? must My ears,
to-day, listen to your impure conversation with that
man ? Were that man as holy as My prophet
David, may he not fall before the unchaste unveil-
ing of the new Bathsheba ? Were he as strong as
Samson, may he not find in you his tempting
Delilah ? Were he as generous as Peter, may he
not become a traitor at the maid-servant's voice ? "

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 29

Perhaps the world has never seen a more terri-
ble, desperate, solemn struggle than the one which
is going on in the soul of a poor trembling young
woman, who, at the feet of that man, has to decide-
Krhether or not she will open her lips on those
things which the infallible voice of God, united to
the no less infallible voice of her womanly honor
and self-respect, tell her never to reveal to any
man !

The history of that secret, fierce, desperate, and
deadly struggle has never yet, so far as I know,
been fully given. It would draw the tears of ad-
miration and compassion of the whole world, if it
could be written with its simple, sublime, and ter-
rible realities.

How many times have I wept as a child when
some noble-hearted and intelligent young girl, or
some respectable married woman, yielding to the
sophisms with which I, or some other confessor,
had persuaded them to give up their self-respect,
and their womanly dignity, to speak with me on
matters on which a decent woman should never say
a word with a man. They have told me of their
invincible repugnance, their horror of such ques-
tions and answers, and they have asked me to have
pity on them. Yes ! I have often wept bitterly
on my degradation, when a priest of Rome ! I

/

30 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

have realized all the strength, the grandeur, and
the holiness of their motives for being silent on
these defiling matters, and I could not but admire
them. It seemed at times that they were speaking
the language of angels of light ; that I ought to
fall at their feet, and ask their pardon for having
spoken to them of questions, on which a man of
honor ought never to converse with a woman whom
he respects.

But alas ! I had soon to reproach myself, and
regret those short instances of my wavering faith
in the infallible voice of my Church ; I had soon
to silence the voice of my conscience, which was
telling me, "Is it not a shame that you, an un-
married man, dare to speak on these matters with
a woman ? Do you not blush to put such ques-
tions to a young girl ? Where is your self-respect ?
where is your fear of God ? Do you not promote
the ruin of that girl by forcing her to speak with
a man on such matters ? ' '

I was compelled by all the Popes, the moral
theologians, and the Councils, of Rome, to believe
that this warning voice of my merciful God was the
voice of Satan ; I had to believe in spite of my own
conscience and intelligence, that it was good, nay,
necessary, to put those polluting,' damning ques-
tions. My infallible Church was mercilessly fore-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AXD CONFESSIONAL. 31

ing me to oblige those poor, trembling, weeping,
desolate girls and women, to swim with me and all
her priests in those waters of Sodom and Gom-
orrah, under the pretext that their self-will would
be broken down, their fear of sin and humility in-
creased, and that they would be purified by our
absolutions.

With what supreme distress, disgust, and sur-
prise, we see, to-day, a great part of the noble
Episcopal Church of England struck by a plague
which seems incurable, under the name of Pusey-
ism, or Ritualism, and bringing again — more or
less openly — in many places the diabolical and
filthy auricular confession among the Protestants
of England, Australia and America. The Episco-
pal Church is doomed to perish in that dark and
stinking pool of Popery — auricular confession, if
she does not find a prompt remedy to stop the
plague brought by the disguised Jesuits, who are
at work everywhere, to poison and enslave her too
unsuspecting daughters and sons.

In the beginning of my priesthood, I was not a
little surprised and embarrassed to see a very ac-
complished and beautiful young lady, whom I used
to meet almost every week at her father's house,
entering the box of my confessional. She had
"been used to confess to another young priest of

32 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

my acquaintance, and she was always looked upon
as one of the most pious girls of the city. Though
pA \she had disguised herself as much as possible, in
order that I might not know her, I felt sure that I
was not mistaken — she was the amiable Mary * *

Not being absolutely certain of the correctness
of my impressions, I left her entirely under the
hope that she was a perfect stranger to me. At
the beginning she could hardly speak ; her voice
was suffocated by her sobs ; and through the little
apertures of the thin partition between her and me,
I saw two streams of big tears trickling down her
cheeks.

After much effort, she said : u Dear Father, I
hope you do not know me, and that you will never
try to know me. I am a desperately great sinner.
Oh ! I fear that I am lost ! But if there is still a
hope for me to be saved, for God's sake, do not re-
buke me ! Before I begin my confession, allow me
to ask you not to pollute my ears by questions
which our confessors are in the habit of putting to
their female penitents ; I have already been de-
stroyed by those questions. Before I was seven-
teen years old, God knows that His angels are not
more pure than I was ; but the chaplain of the
Nunnery where my parents had sent me for my
education, though approaching old age, put to me,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 3S

in the confessional, a question which at first I did
not understand, but, unfortunately, he had put the
game questions to one of my young class-mates,
who made fun of them in my presence, and ex-
plained them to me ; for she understood them too
well. This first unchaste conversation of my life
plunged my thoughts into a sea of iniquity, till
then absolutely unknown to me ; temptations of
the most humiliating character assailed me for a
week, day and night ; after which, sins which I
would blot out with my blood, if it were possible,
overwhelmed my soul as with a deluge. But the
joys of the sinner are short. Struck with terror at
the thought of the judgments of God, after a few-
weeks of the most deplorable life, I determined to
give up my sins and reconcile myself to God. Cov-
ered with shame, and trembling from head to footy.
I went to confess to my old confessor, whom I re-
spected as a saint and cherished as a father. It
seems to me that, with sincere tears of repentance,
I confessed to him the greatest part of my sinsT
though I concealed one of them, through shamey
and respect for my spiritual guide. But I did not
conceal from him that the strange questions he had
put to me at my last confession, were, with the
natural corruption of my heart, the principal cause
of my destruction.

34 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

" He spoke to me very kindly, encouraged me
to fight against my bad inclinations, and, at first,
gave me very kind and good advice. But when I
thought he had finished speaking, and as I was
preparing to leave the confessional-box, he put to
me two new questions of such a polluting character
that, I fear neither the blood of Christ, nor all the
fires of hell will ever be able to blot them out from
any memory. Those questions have achieved my
ruin ; they have stuck to my mind like two deadly
arrows ; they are day and night before my imagin-
ation ; they fill my very arteries and veins with a
deadly poison.

" It is true that, at first, they filled me with hor-
ror and disgust ; but alas ! I soon got so accus-
tomed to them that they seemed to be incorporated
with me, and as if becoming a second nature.
Those thoughts have become a new source of in-
numerable criminal thoughts, desires and ac-
tions.

" A month later, we were obliged by the rules of
our convent to go and confess ; but by this time,
I was so completely lost, that I no longer blushed
at the idea of confessing my shameful sins to a
man ; it was the very contrary. I had a real, dia-
bolical pleasure in the thought that I should have
sl long conversation with my confessor on those

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 35

matters, and that he would ask me more of his
strange questions.

" In fact, when I had told him everything with-
out a blush, he began to interrogate me, and God
knows what corrupting things fell from his lips into
my poor criminal heart ! Every one of his ques-
tions was thrilling my nerves, and filling me with
the most shameful sensations. After an hour of
this criminal tete-a-tete with my old confessor (for it
was nothing else but a criminal tete-a-tete), I per-
ceived that he was as depraved as I was myself.
With some half-covered words, he made a crimi-
nal proposition, which I accepted with covered
words also ; and during more than a year, we have
lived together on the most sinful intimacy. Though
he was much older than I, I loved him in the most
foolish way. When the course of my convent in-
struction was finished, my parents called me back
to their home. I was really glad of that change
of residence, for I was beginning to be tired of my
criminal life. My hope was that, under the direc-
tion of a better confessor, I should reconcile my-
self to God and begin a Christian life.

" Unfortunately for me, my new confessor, who
was very young, began also his interrogations. He
soon fell in love with me, and I loved him in a
most criminal way. I have done with him things

36 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

which I hope you will never request me to reveal
to you, for they are too monstrous to be repeated,
even in the confessional, by a woman to a man.

" I do not say these things to take away the re-
sponsibility of my iniquities with this young con-
fessor, from my shoulders, for I think I have been
more criminal than he was. It is my firm convic-
tion that he was a good and holy priest before he
knew me ; but the questions he put to me, and the
answers I had to give him, melted his heart — I
know it — just as boiling lead would melt the ice on
which it flows.

" I know this is not such a detailed confession
as our holy Church requires me to make, but I
have thought it necessary for me to give you this
short history of the life of the greatest and most
miserable sinner who ever asked you to help her to
come out from the tomb of her iniquities. This is
the way I have lived these last few years. But last
Sabbath, God, in His infinite mercy, looked down
upon me. He inspired you to give us the Prodigal
Son as a model of true conversion, and as the most
marvellous proof of the infinite compassion of the
dear Saviour for the sinner. I have wept day and
night since that happy day, when I threw myself
into the arms of my loving merciful Father. Even
now, I can hardly speak, because my regret for

THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL. 37

mij past iniquities, and my joy that I am allowed
to bathe the feet of the Saviour with tears, are so
great that my voice is as choked.

" You understand that I have forever given up
my last confessor. I come to ask you to do me the
favor to receive me among your penitents. Oh !
do not reject nor rebuke me, for the dear Saviour's
sake ! Be not afraid to have at your side such a
monster of iniquity ! But before going further, I
have two favors to ask from you. The first is, that
you will never do anything to ascertain my name ;
the second is, that you will never put to me any of
those questions by which so many penitents are lost
and so many priests forever destroyed. Twice I
have been lost by those questions. We come to
our confessors that they may throw upon our guilty
souls the pure waters which flow from heaven to
purify us; but instead of that, with their unmen-
tionable questions, they pour oil on the burning
tires which are already raging in our poor sinful
hearts. Oh ! clear father, let me become your pen-
itent, that you may help me to go and weep with
Magdalene at the Saviour's feet! Do respect me,
as He respected that true model of all the sinful,'
but repenting women ! Did our Saviour put to her
any question ? did He extort from her the history
of things which a sinful woman cannot say without

38 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

forgetting the respect she owes to herself and to
God ! No ! you told us not long ago, that the
/only thing our Saviour did, was to look at her tears
and her love. Well, please do that, and you will
save me ! ' '

I was then a very young priest, and never had
any words so sublime come to my ears in the con-
fessional-box. Her tears and her sobs, mingled
with the frank declaration of the most humiliating
actions, had made such a profound impression upon
me that I was, for some time, unable to speak. It
had come to my mind also that I might be mis-
taken about her identity, and that perhaps she was-
not the young lady that I had imagined. I could,
then, easily grant her first request, which was to
do nothing by which I could know her. The sec-
ond part of her prayer was more embarrassing ;
for the theologians are very positive in ordering the
confessors to question their penitents, particularly
those of the female sex, in many circum-
stances.

I encouraged her in the best way I could, to pre-
severe in her good resolutions, by invoking the
blessed Virgin Mary and St. Philomene, who was,
then, the Sainte a la mode, just as Marie Alacoque
is to-day, among the blind slaves of Rome. I told
her that I would pray and think over the subject of

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 39"

her second request; and I asked her to come back
in a week for my answer.

The very same day, I went to my own confessor,
the Rev. Mr. Baillargeon, then curate of Quebec,
and afterwards Archbishop of Canada. I told him
the singular and unusual request she had made,
that I should never put to her any ot those ques-
tions suggested by the theologians, to insure the-
integrity of the confession. I did not conceal from
him that I was much inclined to grant her that
favor ; for I repeated what I had already several
times told him, that I was supremely disgusted with
the infamous and polluting questions which the
theologians forced us to put to our female peni-
tents. I told him frankly that several old and
young priests had already come to confess to me;
and that, with the exception of two, they had told
me that they could not put those questions and
hear the answers they elicited, without falling into*
the most damnable sins.

My confessor seemed to be much perplexed about
what he should answer. He asked me to come the
next day, that he might review some of his theo-
logical books, in the interval. The next day, I
took down in writing his answer, which I find in
my old manuscripts, and I give it here in all its
sad crudity :—

10 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

S u Such cases of the destruction of female virtue
v^>y the questions of the confessors is an unavoid-
able evil. It cannot be helped ; for such questions
are absolutely necessary in the greater part of the
cases with which we have to deal. Men generally
confess their sins with so much sincerity that there
Is -seldom any need for questioning them, except
■when they are very ignorant. But St. Liguori, as
well -as our personal observation, tells us that the
greatest part of girls and women, through a false
-and criminal shame, very seldom confess the sins
Shey commit against purity. It requires the utmost
charity in the confessors to prevent those unfortu-
nate slaves of their secret passions from making
sacrilegious confessions and communions. With
the greatest prudence and zeal he must question
ihem on those matters, beginning with the smallest
•■sins, and going, little by little, as much as possible
hj imperceptible degrees, to the most criminal
actions. As it seems evident that the penitent re-
ferred to in your questions of yesterday, is unwill-
ing to make a full and detailed confession of all her
iniquities, you cannot promise to absolve her with-
out assuring yourself by wise and prudent ques-
tions, that she has confessed everything.

** You must not be discouraged, when, through
tfee confessional or any other way, you learn the

-iHE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 41

fall of priests into the common frailties of human
nature with their penitents. Our Saviour knew
very well that the occasions and the temptations
wTe have to encounter, in the confessions of girls
and women, are so numerous, and sometimes so
irresistible, that many would fall. But He has
given them the Holy Virgin Mary, who constantly
asks and obtains their pardon ; He has given them
the sacrament of penance, where they can receive
their pardon as often as they ask for it. The vow
of perfect chastity is a great honor and privilege ;
but we cannot conceal from ourselves that it puts
on our shoulders a burden which many cannot
carry forever. St. Liguori says that we must not
rebuke the penitent priest who falls only once a
month ; and some other trustworthy theologians
are still more charitable/'

This answer was far from satisfying me. It
seemed to me composed of soft soap principles. I
went back with a heavy heart and an anxious mind ;
and God knows that I made many fervent prayers
that this girl should never come again to give me
her sad history. I was hardly twenty-six years old,
full of youth and life. It seemed to me that the
stings of a thousand wasps to my ears would not
do me so much harm as the words of that dear,
beautiful, accomplished, but lost girl.

42 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

I do not mean to say that the revelations which
she made, had, in any way, diminished my es-
teem and my respect for her. It was just the con-
trary. Her tears and her sobs, at my feet ; her
agonizing expressions of shame and regret ; her
noble words of protest against the disgusting and
polluting interrogations of the confessors, had
raised her very high in my mind. My sincere hope
was that she would have a place in the kingdom of
Christ with the Samaritan women, Mary Magda-
lene, and all the sinners who have washed their
robes in the blood of the Lamb.

At the appointed day, I was in my confessional,
listening to the confession of a young man, when I
saw Miss Mary entering the vestry, and coming
directly to my confessional-box, where she knelt by
me. Though she had, still more than at the first
time, disguised herself behind a long, thick, black
veil, I could not be mistaken ; she was the very
same amiable young lady in whose father's house I
used to pass such pleasant and happy hours. I
had often listened, with breathless attention, to her
melodious voice, when she was giving us, accom-
panied by her piano, some of our beautiful Church
hymns. Who could then see and hear her without
almost worshipping her ? The dignity of her steps,
and her whole mien, when she advanced towards

THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 43-

*ny confessional, entirely betrayed her and de-
stroyed her incognito.

Oh ! I would have given every drop of my blood
in that solemn hour, that I might have been free
to deal with her just as she had so eloquently re-
quested me to do — to let her weep and cry at the
feet of Jesus to her heart's content ; Oh ! if I had
been free to take her by the hand, and silently
show her the dying Saviour, that she might have
bathed His feet with her tears, and spread the oil
of her love on His head, without my saying any-
thing else but "Go in peace : thy sins are for-
given."

But, there, in that confessional-box, I was not
the servant of Christ, to follow His divine, saving
words, and obey the dictates of my honest con-
science. I was the slave of the Pope ! I had ta
stifle the cry of my conscience, to ignore the in-
spirations of my God! There, my conscience had
no right to speak ; my intelligence was a dead
thing! The theologians of the Pope, alone, had a
right to be heard and obeyed ! I was not there to
save, but to destroy ; for, under the pretext of puri-
fying, the real mission of the confessor, often, if
not always, in spite of himself, is to scandalise and
damn the souls.

As soon as the young man who was making his.

44 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

confession at my left hand, had finished, I, without
noise, turned myself towards her, and said, through
the little aperture, "Are you ready to begin your
confession? "

But she did not answer me. All that I could
hear was: " Oh, my Jesus, have mercy upon me !
I come to wash my soul in Thy blood ; wilt thou
rebuke me ?"

During several minutes she raised her hands and
her eyes to heaven, and wept and prayed. It was
evident that she had not the least idea that I was
observing her ; she thought the door of the little
partition between her and me was shut. But my
eyes were fixed upon her ; my tears were flowing
with her tears, and my ardent prayers were going
to the feet of Jesus with her prayers. I would not
have interrupted her for any consideration, in this,
her sublime communion with her merciful Saviour.

But after a pretty long time, I made a little noise
with my hand, and putting my lips near the open-
ing of the partition which was between us, I said
in a low voice, " Dear sister, are you ready to be-
gin your confession ? "

She turned her face a little towards me, and said
with trembling voice, ' l Yes, dear father, I am ready. ' '

But she then stopped again to weep and pray,
though I could not hear what she said.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 45-

After some time of silent prayer, I said, " My
dear sister, if you are ready, please begin your
confession." She then said, "My dear father, do
you remember the prayers which I made to you,
the other day ? Can you allow me to confess my
sins without forcing me to forget the respect that
I owe to myself, to you, and to God, who hears us %
And can you promise that you will not put to me
any of those questions which have already done me
such irreparable injury ? I frankly declare to you
tli at there are sins in me that I cannot reveal to
anyone, except to Christ, because He is my God,
and that He already knows them all. Let me weep
and cry at His feet : can you not forgive me with-
out adding to my iniquities by forcing me to say
things that the tongue of a Christian woman cannot
reveal to a man? "

"My dear sister," I answered, "were I free to
follow the voice of my own feelings I would be only
too happy to grant your request ; but I am here
only as the minister of our holy Church, and bound
to obey her laws. Through her most holy Popes
and theologians she tells me that I cannot forgive
your sins, if you do not confess them all, just as
you have committed them. The Church tells me
also that you must give the details which may add
to the malice or change the nature of your sins. I

46 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

am also sorry to tell you that our most holy theo-
logians make it a duty of the confessor to question
the penitent on the sins which he has good reason
to suspect have been voluntarily or involuntarily
omitted."

With a piercing cry, she exclaimed, "Then, 0
my God, I am lost — forever lost!"

This cry fell upon me like a thunderbolt ; but I
was still more terror-stricken when, looking through
the aperture, I saw she was fainting ; I heard the
noise of her body falling upon the floor, and of her
head striking against the sides of the confessional-
box.

Quick as lightning I ran to help her, took her in
my arms, and called a couple of men who were at
a little distance, to assist me in laying her on a
bench. I washed her face with some cold water
and vinegar. She was as pale as death, but her
lips were moving, and she was saying something
which nobody but I could understand —

"I am lost — lost forever !"

We took her home to her disconsolate family,
where, during a month, she lingered between life
and death. Her two first confessors came to visit
her ; but having asked every one to go out of the
room, she politely, but absolutely, requested them
to go away, and never come again. She asked me

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 47

to visit her every day, "for," she said, "I have
only a few more days to live. Help me to prepare
myself for the solemn hour which will open to me
the gates of eternity ! ' '

Every day I visited her, and I prayed and I wept
with her.

Many times, when alone, with tears I requested
her to finish her confession ; but, with a firmness
which, then, seemed to be mysterious and inexpli-
cable, she politely rebuked me.

One day, when alone with her, I was kneeling
by the side of her bed to pray, I was unable to
articulate a single word, because of the inexpress-
ible anguish of my soul on her account, she asked
me, " Dear father, why do you weep ?"

I answered, u How can you put such a question
to your murderer ! I weep because I have killed
you, dear friend."

This answer seemed to trouble her exceedingly.
She was very weak that day. After she had wept
and prayed in silence, she said, udo not weep for
me, but weep for so many priests who destroy their
penitents in the confessionaTT T~ believe in the
holiness of the sacrament of penance, since our
holy Church has established it. But there is, some-
where, something exceedingly wrong in the con-
fessional. Twice I have been destroyed, and I

48 THE PRIEST. WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

know many girls who have also been destroyed by
the confessional. This is a secret, but will that
secret be kept forever ? I pity the poor priests the
day that our fathers will know what becomes of the
purity of their daughters in the hands of their con
fessors. Father would surely kill my two last con-
fessors, if he could know how they hav-e destroyed
his poor child."

I could not answer except by weeping.

We remained silent for a long time ; then she
said, "It is true that I was not prepared for the
rebuke you have given me, the other day, in the
confessional; but you acted conscientiously as a
good' and honest priest. I know you must be
bound by certain laws."

She then pressed my hand with her cold hand
and said, "Weep not, dear father, because that
sudden storm has wrecked my too fragile bark.
This storm was to take me out from the bottomless
sea of my iniquities to the shore where Jesus was
waiting to receive and pardon me. The night after
you brought me, half dead, here, to father's house,
I had a dream. Oh, no ! it was not a dream, it
was a reality. My Jesus came to me ; He was
bleeding ; His crown of thorns was on His head,
the heavy cross was bruising his -shoulders. He
said to me, with a voice so sweet that no human

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 49

tongue can imitate it, " I have seen thy tears, I
have heard thy cries, and I know thy love for Me:
thy sins are forgiven; take courage; in a few days
thou shalt be with me ! "

She had hardly finished her last word, when she
fainted; and I feared lest she should die just then,
when I was alone with her.

I called the family, who rushed into the room.
The doctor was sent for. He found her so weak
that he thought proper to allow only one or two
persons to remain in the room with me. He re-
quested \is not to speak at all: "For," said he, "the
least emotion may kill her instantly; her disease
is, in all probability, an aneurism of the aorta,
the bio- vein which brings the blood to the heart:
when it breaks, slit? will go as quick as lightning/*

It was nearly ten at \iight when I left the house
to go and take some rest. But it is not necessary
to say that I passed a sleepless night. My dear
Mary was there, pale, dying from the deadly blow
which I had given her in the confessional. She
was there, on her bed of death, her heart pierced
with the dagger which my Church had put into my
hand ! and instead of rebuking, and cursing me for
my savage, merciless fanaticism, she was blessing
me! She was dying from a broken heart, and I
was not allowed by my Church to give her a sin.-

50 THE PlilEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

gle word of consolation and hope, for she had not
made her confession ! I had mercilessly bruised
that tender plant, and there was nothing in my
hands to heal the wounds I had made!

It was very probable that she would die the
next day, and I was forbidden to show her the
crown of glory which Jesus has prepared in His
kingdom for the repenting sinner!

My desolation was really unspeakable, and I
think I would have been suffocated and have died
that night, if the stream of tears which ct instantly
flowed from my eyes had not been as a balm to
my distressed heart.

How dark and long the hours of that night
seemed to me !

Before the dawn of day, I arose to read my theo-
logians again, and see if I could not find some one
who would allow me to forgive the sins of that
dear child, without forcing her to tell me everything
she had done. But they seemed to me, more than
ever, unanimously inexorable, and I put them back
on the shelves of my library with a broken heart.

At nine A. M. the next day, I was by the bed of
our dear sick Mary. I cannot sufficiently tell the
joy I felt when the doctor and the whole family
said to me, " She is much better;" the rest of last
night has .wrought a marvellous change indeed.**

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL- 51

With a really angelic smile she extended her
hand towards me, that I might press it in mine;
and she said, " I thought, last evening, that the
dear Saviour would take me to Him, but He wants
me, dear father, to give you a little more trouble;
however, be patient, it cannot be long before the
solemn hour of the appeal will ring. Will you
please read me the history of the suffering and
death of the beloved Saviour, which you read me
the other day? It does me so much good to see
how He has loved me, such a miserable sin-
ner."

There was a calm and a solemnity in her words
which struck me singularly, as well as all those
who were there.

After I had finished reading, she exclaimed,
* He has loved me so much that He died for my
sins!" And she shut her eyes as if to meditate in
silence, but there was a stream of big tears rolling
down her cheeks.

I knelt down by her bed, with her family, to
pray; but I could not utter a single word. The
idea that this dear child was there, dying from the
cruel fanaticisms of my theologians and my own
cowardice in obeying them, was a mill-stone to
my neck. It was killing me.

Oh! if by dying a thousand times, I could have

52 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

added a single day to her life, with what pleasure
I would have accepted those thousand deaths!

After we had silently prayed and wept by her
bedside, she requested her mother to leave her
alone with me.

When I saw myself alone, under the irresistible
impression that this was her last day, I fell on my
knees again, and with tears of the most sincere
compassion for her soul, I requested her to shake
off her shame and to obey our holy Church, which
requires every one to confess their sins if they want
to be forgiven.

She'calmnly, but with an air of diguity which
no human words can express, said, " Is it true that,
after the sin of Adam and Eve, God Himself made
coats and skins, and clothed them, that they might
not see each other's nakedness?"

"Yes," I said "that is what the Holy Scriptures
tell us."

"Well, then, how is it possible that our confess-
ors dare to take away from us that holy, divine
eoat of modesty and self-respect? Has not Almighty
God Himself made, with His own hands that coat
of womanly modesty and self-respect that we
might not be to you and to ourselves, a cause of
shame and sin ? "

I was really stunned by the beauty, simplicity,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 53

and sublimity of that comparison. I remained ab-
solutely mute and confounded. Though it was
demolishing all the traditions and doctrines of my
Church, and pulverizing all my holy doctors and
theologians, that noble ansA^er found such an echo
in my soul, that it seemed to me a sacrilege to try
to touch it with my finger.

After a short time of silence, she continued,
" Twice I have boen destroyed by priests in the
confessional. They took away from me that divine
coat of modesty and self-respect which God gives
to every human being who comes into this world,
and twice, I have become for those very priests a
deep pit of perdition, into which they have fallen,
and where, I fear, they are forever lost! My mer-
ciful heavenly Father has given me back that coat
of skins, that nuptial robe of modesty, self-respect,
and holiness, which had been taken away from me*
He cannot allow you or any other man, to tear
again and spoil that vestment which is the work
of His hands."

These words had exhausted her; it was evident
to me that she wanted some rest. I left her alone,
but I was absolutely beside myself. Filled with
admiration for the sublime lessons which I had re-
ceived from the lips of that regenerated daughter
of Eve, who, it was evident, was soon to fly away

54 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

from us, I felt a supreme disgust for myself, my
theologians, and — shall I say it? yes, I felt in that
solemn hour a supreme disgust for my Church,
which was so cruelly defiling me, and all her priests
in the confessional-box. I felt, in that hour, a
supreme horror for that auricular confession, which
is so often a pit of perdition and supreme misery
for the confessor and penitent. I went out and
walked two hours on the Plains of Abraham, to
breathe the pure and refreshing air of the moun-
tain. There, alone, I sat on a stone, on the very
spot where Wolfe and Montcalm had fought and
died; and I wept to my heart's content, on my
irreparable degradation, and the degradation of so
many priests through the confessional.

At four o'clock in the afternoon I went back
again to the house of my dear dying Mary. The
mother took me apart, and very politely said,
(i My clear Mr. Chiniquy, do you not think it is
time that our dear child should receive the. last
sacraments? She seemed to be much bettei this
morning, and we were full of hope; but she is now
rapidly sinking. Please lose no time in giving
her the holy viaticum and the extreme unction."

I said, "Yes, madam: let me pass a few minutes
alone with our poor dear child, that I may prepare
her for the last sacraments."

THE ICIEST, WoMAN (ND confessional. 55

When alone with her, I again fell on my knees,
and, amidst torrents of tears, I said, " Dear sister,
it is my desire to give you the holy viaticum and
the extreme unction; but tell me, how can I dare
to do a thing so solemn against all the prohibitions
of our Holy Church? How can I give you the
holy communion without first giving you absolu-
tion? and how can I give you absolution when you
earnestly persist in telling me that you have many
sins which you will never declare either to me or
any other confessor?

"You know that I cherish and respect you as if
you were an angel sent to me from heaven. You
told me, the other day, that you blessed the day
that you first saw and knew me. I say the same
thing. I bless the day that I have known you; I
bless every hour that I have spent by your bed of
suffering; I bless every tear which I have shed
with you on your sins and on my own; I bless
every hour we have passed together in looking to
the wounds of our beloved, dying Saviour; I bless
you for having forgiven me your death! for I know
it, and I confess it in the presence of God, I have
killed you, dear sister. But now I prefer a thou-
sand times to die than to say to you a word which
would pain you in any way, or trouble the peace
of your soul. Please, my dear sister, tell me

5-6 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

what I can and must do for you in this solemn
hour."

Calmly, and with a smile of joy such as I had never
seen before, nor seen since, she said, " I thank and
bless you, dear father, for the parable of the Prodi-
gal Son, on which you preached a month ago. You
have brought me to the feet of the dear Saviour;
there I have found a peace and a joy surpassing
anything the human heart can feel ; I have thrown
myself into the arms of my Heavenly Father, and
I know He has mercifullj- accepted and forgiven
His poor prodigal child ! Oh, I see the angels
with their golden harps around the throne of the
Lamb ! Do you not hear the celestial harmony of
their songs? I go — I go to join them in my Fath-
er's house. I SHALL NOT BE LOST! »

While, she was thus speaking to me, my eyes
were really turned into two fountains of tears ; I
was unable, as well as unwilling, to see anything,
so entirely overcome was I by the sublime words
which were flowing from the dying lips of that
dear child, who was no more a sinner, but a real
angel of Heaven to me. I was listening to her
words ; there was a celestial music in every one of
them. But she had raised her voice in such a
strange way, when she had begun to say, " I go to
my Father's house," and she had made such a cry

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 57

of joy when she had let the last words, "not be
lost," escape her lips, that I raised my head and
opened my eyes to look at her. I suspected that
something strange had occurred.

I got upon my feet, passed my handkerchief
over my face to wipe away the tears which were
preventing me from seeing with accuracy, and
looked at her.

Her hands were crossed on her breast, and there
was on her face the expression of a really super-
human joy; her beautiful eyes were fixed as if they
were looking on some grand and sublime spec-
tacle ; it seemed to me, at first, that she was pray-
ing.

In that very instant the mother rushed into the
room, crying, "My God! my God! what does
that cry i lost ' mean?''' — For her last words,
"not to be lost,1' particularly the last one, had
been pronounced with such a powerful voice, that
they had been heard almost everywhere in the
house.

I made a sign with my hand to prevent the dis-
tressed mother from making any noise and troub-
ling her dying child in her prayer, for I really
thought that she had stopped speaking, as she
used so often to do, when alone with me, in order
to pray. But I was mistaken. That redeemed

58 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

soul had gone, on the golden wings of love, to join
the multitude of those who have washed their robes
in the blood of the Lamb, to sing the eternal
Alleluia.

CHAPTER II.

AURICULAR CONFESSION A DEEP PIT OF PERDITION
FOR THE PRIEST.

IT was some time after our dear Mary had been
buried. The terrible and mysterions cause of
her death was known only to God and to myself.
Though her loving mother was still weeping over
her grave, as usual, she had soon been forgotten by
the greatest part of those who had known her ; but
she was constantly present to my mind. I never
entered the confessional-box without hearing her
solemn, though so mild voice, telling me, "There
must be, somewhere, something wrong in the aur-
icular confession. Twice I have been destroyed
by my confessors ; and I have known several others
who have have been destroyed in the same way."
More than once, when her voice was ringing in
my ears from her tomb, I had shed bitter tears on
the profound and unfathomable degradation into
which I, with the other priests, had to fall in the
confessional-box. For many, many times, stories
as deplorable as that of this unfortunate girl were

60 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

confessed to me by city, as well as country
females.

One night I was awakened by the rumbling noise
of thunder, when I heard some one knocking at
the door. I hastened out of bed to ask who was

there. The answer was that the Eev. Mr.

was dying, and that he wanted to see me before
his death. I dressed myself, and was soon on the
highway. The darkness was fearful; and often,
had it not been for the liffhtninsr which was almost
constantly tearing the clouds, we should not have
known where we were. After a long and hard
journey through the darkness and the storm, we
arrived at the house of the dying priest. I went
directly to his room, and really found him very
low: he could hardly speak. With a sign of his
hand he bade his servant girl, and a young man
who were there, to go out, and leave him alone
with me.

Then he said, in a low voice, " Was it you who
prepared poor Mary to die?"

" Yes, sir," I answered.

" Please tell me the truth. Is it a fact that she
died the death of a reprobate, and that her last
words were, ' Oh my God! I am lost!"

I answered him, " As I was the confessor of that
girl, and we were talking together on matters

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 61

which pertained to her confession at the very
moment that she was unexpectedly summoned to
appear before God, I cannot answer your question
in any way ; please, then, excuse me if I cannot
say any more on that subject : but tell me who can
have assured you that she died the death of a rep-
robate I"

" It was her own mother," answered the dying
man. " Last week she came to visit me, and when
ahe was alone with me, with many tears and cries,
she said how her poor child had refused to receive
the last sacraments, and how her last cry was, * I
am lost!" She added that that cry, i Lost!' was
pronounced with such a frightful power that it was
heard through all the house."

u If her mother told you that," I replied, "you
may believe what you please about the way that
poor child died. I cannot say a word — you know
it — about the matter."

"But if she is lost," rejoined the old, dying
priest, "lam the miserable one who has destroyed
her. She was an angel of purity when she came to
the convent. Oh ! dear Mary, if you are lost, I
am a thousandfold more lost ! Oh, my God, my
God ! what will become of me ? I am dying ; and
I am lost ! ' '

It was indeed an awful thing to see that old sin-

62 THE PRIEST,

ner wringing his hands, and rolling on his bed, as
if he had been on burning coals, with all the marks
of the most frightful despair on his face, crying, " I
am lost! Oh, my God, I am lost!"

I was glad that the claps of thunder which were
shaking the house, and roaring without ceasing,
prevented the people outside the room from hear-
ing the cries of desolation from the priest, whom
every one considered a great saint.

When it seemed to me his terror had somewhat
subsided, and that his mind was calmed a little, I
said to him, " My dear friend, you must not give
yourself up to such despair. Our merciful God has
promised to forgive the repenting sinner who comes
to Him, even at the last hour of the day. Address
yourself to the Virgin Mary, she will ask and ob-
tain your pardon."

" Do you not think that it is too late to ask par-
don? The doctor has honestly warned me that
death is very near, and I feel that I am just now
dying. Is it not too late to ask and obtain par-
don?" asked the dying priest.

' ' No ! my dear sir, it is not too late, if you sin-
cerely regret your sins. Throw yourself into the
arms of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph ; make your con-
fession without any more delay; I will absolve
you, and you will be saved."

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 63

"But I have never made a good confession.
Will you help me to make a general one ?"

It was my duty to grant him his request, and the
rest of the night was spent by me in hearing the
confession of his whole life.

I do not want to give many particulars of the life
of that priest. First : It was then that I under-
stood why poor Mary was absolutely unwilling to
mention the iniquities which she had committed
with him. They were simply surpassingly horri-
ble—unmentionable. No human tongue can ex-
press them — few human ears would consent to hear
them.

The second thing that I am bound in conscience
to reveal is almost incredible, but it is nevertheless
true. The number of married and unmarried
females he had heard in the confessional was about
1,500, of whom he said he had destroyed or scan-
dalised at least 1,000 by his questioning them on
most depraved things, for the simple pleasure of
gratifying his own corrupted heart, without letting
them know anything of his sinful thoughts and
criminal desires towards them. But he confessed
that he had destroyed the purity of ninety-five of
those penitents, who had consented to sin with
him.

And would to God that this priest had been the

64 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

only one whom I have known to be lost through
the auricular confession. But, alas! how few are
those who have escaped the snares of the tempter
compared with those who have perished? I have
heard the confessions of more than 200 priests, and
to say the truth, as God knows it, I must declare
that only twenty-one had not to weep over the
secret or public sins committed through the irresist-
ibly corrupting influences of auricular confession !

I am now more than seventy-seven years old, and
in a short time I shall be in my grave. I shall
have to give an account of what I now say. Well,
it is in the presence of my great Judge, with my
tomb before my eyes, that I declare to the world
that very few — yes, very few7 — priests escape
from falling into the pit of the most horrible
moral depravity the world has ever known, through
the confession of females.

I do not say this because I have any bad feelings
against those priests; God knows I have none.
The only feelings I have are of supreme compas-
sion and pity. I do not reveal these awful things
to make the world believe that the priests of Rome
are a worse set of men than the rest of the innum-
erable fallen children of Adam; no; I do not enter-
tain any such views; for everything considered,,
and weighed in the balance of religion, charity and

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 65

common sense— I think that the priests of Home
are far from being worse than any other set of men
who would be thrown into the same temptations,
dangers, and unavoidable occasions of sin.

For instance, let us take lawyers, merchants, or
farmers, and, preventing them from living with
their lawful wives, let us surround each of them
from morning to night, by ten, twenty, and some-
times more, beautiful women and tempting girls,
who would speak to them of things which would
pulverize a rock of Scotch granite, and you will see
how many of those lawyers, merchants, or farmers
would come out of that terrible moral battle-field
without being mortally wounded.

The cause of the supreme — I dare say incredible,
though unsuspected — immorality of the priests of
Rome is a very evident and logical one. By the
diabolical power of the Pope, the priest is put out
of the ways which God has offered to the gen-
erality of men to be honest, upright and holy.*
And after the Pope has deprived them of the
grand, holy, and Divine (in this sense that it comes
directly from God) remedy w hich God has given
to man against his own concupiscence — holy mar-
riage, they are placed unprotected and unguarded

* u To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife,
and let every woman have her own husband" (r Cor. viL z.\

66 THE PRIEST. WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

in the most perilous, difficult, and irresistible moral
dangers which human ingenuity or depravity can
conceive. Those unmarried men are forced, from
morning to night, to be in the midst of beautiful
girls, and tempting, charming women, who have
to tell them things which would melt the hardest
steel. How can you expect that they will cease to
be men, and become stronger than angels ?

Not only are the priests of Rome deprived by
the devil of the only remedy which God has given
to help them to withstand, but in the confessional
they have the greatest facility which can possibly
be imagined for satisfying all the bad propensities
of fallen human nature. In the confessional they
knovj those who are strong, and they also know
those who are weak among the females by whom
they are surrounded ; they know who would resist
/any attempt from the enemy ; and they know who
are ready — nay, who are longing after the deceitful
charms of sin. If they still retain the fallen nature
)f man, what a terrible hour for them ? what fright-
ful battles inside the poor heart ? what superhuman
effort and strength would be required to come out
a conqueror from that battle field, where a David
and a Samson have fallen mortally wounded ?

It is simply an act of supreme stupidity on the
part of the Protestant, as well as Catholic public,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 6T

to suppose, or suspect, or hope that the generality
of the priests can stand such a trial. The pages of
the history of Rome herself are filVi with unan-
swerable proofs that the great generality of the
confessors fall. If it were not so, the miracle of
Joshua, stopping the march of the sun and the
/noon, would be childish play co2npared with the
miracle which would stop and reverse all the laws
of our common fallen nature in the hearts of the
100,000 Roman Catholic confessors of the Church
of Rome. Were I attempting to prove, by public
facts, what I know of the horrible depravity caused
by the confessional-box among the priests of France,
Canada, Spain, Italy, and England, I should have
to write many big volumes in folio. For brevity's
sake, I will speak only of Italy. I take that coun-
try, because, being u^ider the very eyes of their
infallible and most holy (?) pontiff, being in the
land of daily miracles, of painted Madonnas, who
weep and turn their eyes left and right, up and
down, in a most marvellous way, being in the land
of miraculous medals and heavenly spiritual favors,
constantly flowing from the chair of St. Peter, the
confessors in Italy, seeing every year the miracu-
lous melting of the blood of St. January, having
in their midst the hair of the Virgin Mary, and a
part oi her shirt, are in the best possible circum-

68 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

stances to be strong, faithful and holy. Well, let
us hear the testimouy of an eye-witness, a con-
temporary, and an unimpeachable witness about
the way the confessors deal with the penitent
females in the holy, apostolical, infallible (?)
Church of Rome.

The witness we will hear is of the purest blood
of the princes of Italy. Her name is Henrietta
Carracciolo, daughter of the Marshal Carracciolo,
Governor of the Province of Pari, in Italy. Let us
hear what she says of the Father Confessors, after
twenty years of personal experience in different nun-
neries of Italy, in her remarkable book, "Mysteries
of the Neapolitan Convents," pp. 150, 151, 152:
" My confessor came the following day, and I dis-
closed to him the nature of the troubles which beset
me. Later in the day, seeing. that I had gone down
to the place where we used to receive the holy com-
munion, called Communichino, the conversa of my
aunt rang the bell for the priest to come with the
pyx.* He was a man of about fifty years of age,
very corpulent, with a rubicund face, and a type of
physiognomy as vulgar as it was repulsive.

" I approached the little window to receive the
sacred wafer on my tongue, with my eyes closed,

* A silver box containing consecrated bread, which is be-
lieved to be the real body, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 69

as is customary. I placed it on my tongue, and,
as I drew back, I felt my cheeks caressed. I
opened my eyes, but the priest had withdrawn his
hand, and, thinking I had been deceived, I gave it
no more attention.

" On the next occasion, forgetful of what had
occurred before, I received the sacrament with
closed eyes again, according to precept. This
time I distinctly felt my chin caressed again, and
on opening my eyes suddenly, I found the priest
gazing rudely upon me with a sensual smile on his
face.

"There could be no longer any doubt ; these
overtures were not the result of accident.

" The daughter of Eve is endowed with a greater
degree of curiosity than man. It occurred to me
to place myself in a contiguous apartment, where I
could observe whether this libertine priest was
accustomed to take similar liberties with the nuns.
I did so, and was fully convinced that only the old
left him without being caressed.

11 All the others allowed him to do with them as
he pleased , and even, in taking leave of him, did
so with the utmost reverence.

"'Is this the respect,' said I to myself, 'that
the priests and the spouses of Christ have for their
sacrament of the Eucharist ? Shall the poor novice

70 THE PRIEST^ WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

be enticed to leave the world in order to learn,
in this school, such lessons of self-respect and
chastity?' "

Page 163, we read: "The fanatical passion of
the nuns for their confessors, priests, and monks,
exceeds belief. That which especially renders
their incarceration endurable is the illimitable op-
portunity they enjoy of seeing and corresponding
with those persons with whom they are in love.
This freedom localizes and identifies them with the
convent so closely that they are unhappy, when,
on account of any serious sickness, or while pre-
paring to take the veil, they are obliged to pass
some months in the bosom of their own families,
in company with their fathers, mothers, brothers,
and sisters. It is not to be presumed that these
relatives would permit a young girl to pass many
hours, each day, in a mysterious colloquy with a
priest, or a monk, and maintain with him this con-
respondence. This is a liberty which they can
enjoy in the convent only.

" Many are the hours which the Heloise spends
in the confessional, in agreeable pastime with her
Abelard in cassock.

"Others, whose confessors happen to be old,
have in addition a spiritual director, with whom
they amuse themselves a long time every day

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. <1

tete-a-tete, in the parlatoria. When this is not
enough, they simulate an illness, in order to have
him alone in their own rooms."

Page 166, we read : " Another nun, being some-
what infirm, her priest confessed her in her own
room. After a time, the invalid penitent found
herself in what is called an interesting situation,
on which account, the physician declaring that her
complaint was dropsy, she was sent away from the
convent."

Page 167 : " A young educanda was in the habit
of going down, every night, to the convent burying-
place, where, by a corridor which communicated
with the vestry, she entered into a colloquy with a
young priest attached to the church. Consumed
by an amorous passion, she was not deterred by
bad weather or the fear ot being discovered.

"She heard a great noise, one night, near her.
In the thick darkness which surrounded her, she
imagined that she saw a viper winding itself round
her feet. She was so much overcome by fright,
that she died from the effects of it a few months
later."

Page 168: " One of the confessors had a young
penitent in the convent. Every time he was
called to visit a dying sister, and on that account
passed the night in the convent, this nun would

V2 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

climb over the partition which separated her room
from his, and betake herself to the master and
director of her soul.

" Another, during the delirium of a typhoid fever
from which she was suffering, was constantly
imitating the action of sending kisses to her con-
fessor, who stood by the side of her bed. He,
covered with blushes on account of the presence of
strangers, held a crucifix before the eyes of the
penitent, and exclaimed in a commiserating tone: —

" i Poor thing! kiss thy own spouse !' "

Page 168: "Under the bonds of secresy, an
educanda, of fine form and pleasing manners, and
of a noble family, confided to me the fact of her
having received, from the hands of her confessor,
a very interesting book (as she described it) which
related to the monastic life. I expressed the wish
to know the title, and she, before showing it to me,
took the precaution to lock the door.

" It proved to be the Monaca, by Dalembert, a
book as all know, filled with the most disgusting
obscenity. ' '

Page 169: "I received once, from a monk, a
letter in which he signified to me that he had hardly
seen me when i he conceived the sweet hope of
becoming my confessor. ' An exquisite of the first
water, a fop of scents and euphuism, could not have

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 16

employed phrases more melodramatic, to demand
whether he might hope or despair."

Page 169 : "A priest who enjoyed the reputa-
tion of being an incorruptible sacerdote, when he
saw me pass through the parlatoria, used to address
me as follows : —

44 4Ps, dear, come here ; Ps, Ps, come here V

"These words, addressed to me by a priest,
were nauseous in the extreme.

"Finally, another priest, the most annoying of
all for his obstinate assiduity, sought to secure my
affections at all cost. There was not an image pro-
fane poetry could afford him, nor a sophism he
could borrow from rhetoric, nor wily interpretation
he could give to the Word of God, which he did
not employ to convert me to his wishes. Here is
an example of his logic: —

444 Fair daughter,1 said he to me one day,
4 knowest thou who God truly is ? '

444 He is the Creator of the Universe,' I answered
drily.

44 4 ]So, — no, — no, — no! that it is not enough,'
he replied, laughing at my ignorance. 4 God is
love, but love in the abstract, which receives its
incarnation in the mutual affection of two hearts
which idolise each other. You, then, must not
only love God in His abstract existence, but must

74 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

also love Him in His incarnation, that is, in the
exclusive love of a man who adores you. Quod
Deus est amor, nee colitur nisi amando. '

"'Then,' I replied, 'a woman who adores her
own lover would adore Divinity itself? '

" Assuredly,' reiterated the priest, over and over
agafn, taking courage from my remark, and chuck-
ling at what seemed to him to be the effect of his
catechism.

" ' In that case,' said I, hastily, u I should select
for my lover rather a man of the world than a
priest.'

"'God preserve you, my daughter! God pre-
serve you from that sin! ' added my interlocutor,,
apparently frightened, ' To love a man of the world,.
a sinner, a wretch, an unbeliever, an infidel ! Why,
you would go immediately to hell. The love of a
priest is a sacred love, while that of a profane man
is infamy ; the faith of a priest emanates from that
granted to the holy Church, while that of the pro-
fane is false — false as the vanity of the world.
The priest purifies his affections daily in commun-
ion with the Holy Spirit ; the man of the world (if
he ever knows love at all) sweeps the muddy cross-
ings of the street with it day and night. '

" ' But it is the heart, as well as the conscience^
which prompts me to fly from the priests,' I replied.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. ii>

" * Well, if you cannot love me because I am
your confessor, I will find means to assist you to-
get rid of your scruples. We will place the name
of Jesus Christ before all our affectionate demon-
strations, and thus our love will be a grateful offer-
ing to the Lord, and will ascend fragrant with per-
fume to Heaven, like the smoke of the incense of
the sanctuary. Say to me, for example, " I love
you in Jesus Christ ; last night I dreamed of you
in Jesus Christ ;" and you will have a tranquil
conscience, because in doing this you will sanctify
every transport of your love. "

u Several circumstances not indicated here, by
the way, compelled me to come in frequent con-
tact with this priest afterwards, and I do not, there-
fore, give his name."

" Of a very respectable monk, respectable alike
for his age and his moral character, I enquired
what signified the prefixing the name of Jesus-
Christ to amorous apostrophes."

"It is,' he said, 'an expression used by a hor-
rible sect, and one unfortunately only too numer-
ous, which, thus abusing the name of our Lord,
permits to its members the most unbridled licen-
tiousness."

And it is my sad duty to say, before the whole
world, that I know that by far the greater part of

76 THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL.

the confessors in America, Spain, France, an ..
England, reason and act just like that licentious
Italian priest.

Christian nations! If you could know what will
become of the virtue of your fair daughters if you
allow secret or public slaves of Rome under the
name of Ritualists to restore the auricular confes-
sion, with what a storm of holy indignation you
would defeat their plans !

CHAPTER III.

THE CONFESSIONAL IS THE MODERN SODOM.

IF anyone wants to hear an eloquent oration, let
him go wlaere the Roman Catholic priest is
preaching on the divine institution of auricular
confession. There is no subject, perhaps, on which
the priests display so much zeal and earnestness,
and of which they speak so often. For this insti-
tution is really the corner-stone of their stupendous
power; it is the secret of their almost irresistible
influence. Let the people open their eyes, to-day,
to the truth, and understand that auricular con-
fession is one of the most stupendous impostures
which Satan has invented, to corrupt and enslave
the world; let the people desert the confessional-
box to-day, and to-morrow Romanism will fall into
the dust. The priests understand this very well ;
hence their constant efforts to deceive the people
on that question. To attain their object, they have
recourse to the most egregious falsehoods ; the
Scriptures are misrepresented ; the holy Fathers
are brought to say the very contrary of what they

78 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

have ever thought or written ; and the most extra-
ordinary miracles and stories are invented. But
two of the arguments to which they have more
often recourse, are the great and perpetual miracles
which God makes to keep the purity of the con-
fessional undefiled, and its secrets marvellously
sealed. They make the people believe that the
vow of perpetual chastity changes their nature,
turns them into angels, and puts them above the
common frailties of the fallen children of Adam.

Bravely, and with a brazen face, when they are
interrogated on that subject, they say that they
have special graces to remain pure and undefiled
in the midst of the greatest dangers ; that the Vir-
gin Mary, to whom they are consecrated, is their
powerful advocate to obtain from her Son that
superhuman virtue of chastity ; that what would
be a cause of sure perdition to common men, is
without peril and danger for a true Son of Mary ;
and, with amazing stupidity, the people consent to
be duped, blinded, and deceived by those fooleries.

But here, let the world learn the truth as it is,
from one who knows perfectly everything inside
and outside the walls of that Modern Babylon.
Though many, I know, will disbelieve me and say,
" We hope you are mistaken ; it is impossible that
the priests of Rome should turn out to be such im-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 79

postors ; they may be mistaken ; they may believe
and repeat things which are not true, but they are
honest ; they cannot be such impudent deceivers."

Yes ; though I know that many will hardly be-
lieve me, I must tell the truth.

Those very men, who, when speaking to the peo-
ple in such glowing terms of the marvellous way
they are kept pure, in the midst of the dangers
which surround them, honestly blush — and often
weep — when they speak to each other (when they
are sure that nobody, except priests, hear them).
They deplore their own moral degradation with the
utmost sincerity and honesty; they ask from God
and men, pardon for their unspeakable depravity.

I have here — in my hands, and under my eyes-
one of their most remarkable secret books, written
(or at least approved) by one of their greatest and
best bishops and cardinals, the Cardinal de Bon*
aid, Archbishop of Lyons.

The book is written for the use of priests alone.
Its title is, in French, " Examen de Conscience des
PretTes." At page 34, we read : —

" Have I left certain persons to make the declar-
ations of their sins in such a way that the imagina-
tion, once taken and impressed by pictures and
representations, could be dragged into a long course
of temptations and grevious sins ? The priests do

80 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

not pay sufficient attention to the continual tempta-
tions caused by the hearing of confessions. The
soul is gradually enfeebled in such a way that, af
the end, the virtue of chastity is forever lost."

Here is the address of a priest to other priests,
when he suspects that nobody but his co-sinner
brethern hear him. Here is the honest language
of truth.

In the presence of God those priests acknowl-
edge that they have not a sufficient fear of those*
constant (what a word — what an acknowledgment — •
constant!) temptations, and they honestly confess
that these temptations come from the hearing of
the confessions of so many scandalous sins. Here
the priests honestly acknowledge that those con-
stant temptations, at the end, destroy forever in
them the holy virtue of purity."

Ah! would to God that all the honest girls and
women whom the devil entraps into the snares of
auricular confession, could hear the cries of distress
of those poor priests whom they have tempted--
forever destroyed ! Would to God that they could

* And remark, that all their religious authors who have
written on that subject hold the same language. They all
.speak of those continual degrading temptations ; they all lament
the damning sins which follow those temptations ; they all en-
treat the priests to fight those temptations and repent of those
sins.

YilE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 81

gee tKe torrents of tears shed by so many priests,
because, from the hearing of confessions, they had
forever lost the virtue of purity! They would un-

(jderstand that the confessional is a snare, a pit of
(perdition, a Sodom for the priest; and they would

</be struck with horror and shame at the idea of the
continual, shameful, dishonest, degrading tempta-
tions, by which their confessor is tormented day
and night — they would blush on account of the
shameful sins which their confessors have com-
mitted —they would weep over the irreparable loss
of their purity — they would promise before God
and men that the confessional-box should never see
them any more — they would prefer to be burned
alive, if any sentiment of honesty and charity re-
mained in them, rather than consent to be a cause
of constant temptations and damnable sins to that
man.

Would that respectable lady go any more to con-
fess to that man, if, after her confession, she could
hear him lamenting the continual, shameful temp-
tations which assail him day and night, and the
damning: sins which he has committed on account
of what she has confessed to him? No! — a thou-
sand times, no!

Would that honest father allow his beloved
daughter to go any more to that man to confess, if

82 THE PRIEST, WOMAN A *> *a>jS*jGS»IO;NtAL.

he could hear his cries of distress, and see his tears
flowing, because the hearing of those confessions is
the source of constant, shameful temptations and
degrading iniquities?

Oh ! would to God that the honest Romanists all
over the world — for there are millions, who, though
deluded, are honest — could see what is going on in
the heart, and the imagination of the poor con-
fessor when he is, there, surrounded by attractive
women and tempting girls, speaking to him from
morning to night on things which a man cannot
hear without falling. Then, that modern but grand
imposture, called the Sacrament of Penance, would
eoon be ended.

But here, again, who will not lament the conse-
quences of the total perversity of human na-
ture? Those very same priests who, when alone,
In the presence of God, speak so plainly of the con-
stant temptations by which they are assailed, and
who so sincerely weep over the irreparable loss of
their virtue of purity, when they think that nobody
hears them, will yet, in public, with a brazen face,
deny those temptations. They will indignantly
rebuke you as a slanderer if you say anything to
lead them to suppose that you fear for their purity,
when they hear the confessions of girls or married
Momen!

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 83

There is not a single one of the Roman Catholic
-authors, who have written on that subject for the
priests, who has not deplored their innumerable
and degrading sins against purity, on account of
the auricular confession; but those very men will
be the first to try to prove the very contrary when
they write books for the people. I have no words
to tell what was my surprise when, for the first
time, I saw that this strange duplicity seemed to
be one of the fundamental stones of my Church.

It was not very long after my ordination, when a
priest came to me to confess the most deplorable
things. He honestly told me that there was not a
single one of the girls or married women whom he
had confessed, who had not been a secret cause of
the most shameful sins, in thought, desires, or
actions; but he wept so bitterly over his degrada-
tion, his heart seemed so sincerely broken on ac-
count of his own iniquities, that I could not refrain
from mixing my tears with his; I wept with him,
and I gave him pardon for all his sins, as I then
thought I had the power and right to give it.

Two hours afterwards, that same priest, who was
a good speaker, was in the pulpit. His sermon was
on "The Divinity of Auricular Confession;" and,
to prove that it was an institution coming directly
from Christ, he said that the Son of God was per-

84 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

forming a constant miracle to strengthen His
priests, and prevent them from falling into sins, on
account of what they might have heard in the con-
fessional! ! !

The daily abominations, which are the result of
auricular confession, are so horrible and so well
known by the popes, the bishops, and the priests,
that several times, public attempts have been made
to diminish them by punishing the guilty priests]
but all these commendable efforts have failed.

One of the most remarkable of those efforts was
made by Pius IV. about the year 1560. A Bull
was published by him, by which all the girls and
married women who had been seduced into sins by
their confessors, were ordered to denounce them;
and a certain number of high church officers of the
Holy Inquisition were authorized to take the de-
positions of the fallen penitents. The thing was,
at first, tried at Seville, one of the principal cities
of Spain. When the edict was first published, the
number of women who felt bound in conscience to
go and depose against their father confessors, was
so great, that though there were thirty notaries,
and as many inquisitors, to take the depositions,
they were unable to do the work in the appointed
time. Thirty days more were given, but the in-
quisitors were so overwhelmed with the numberless

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 85

depositions, that another period of time of the same
length was given. But this, again, was found in-
sufficient. At the end, it was found that the num-
ber of priests who had destroyed the purity of
their penitents was so great that it was impossible
to punish them all. The inquest was given up, and
the guilty confessors remained unpunished. Several
attempts of the same nature have been tried by
Mher popes, but with about the same success.

But if those honest attempts on the part of some
well-meaning popes, to punish the confessors who
destroy the purity of the penitents, have failed to
touch the guilty parties, they are, in the good
orovidence of God, infallible witnesses to tell to
the world that auricular confession is nothing else
than a snare to the confessor and his dupes. Yes,
ihose Bulls of the popes are an irrefragable testi-
mony that auricular confession is the most pow-
erful invention of the devil to corrupt the heart,
pollute the body, and damn the soul of the priest
and his female penitent!

CHAPTER IV.

HOW THE VOW OF CELIBACY OF THE PRIESTS IS MADE
EASY BY AURICULAR CONFESSION.

ARE not facts the best arguments? Well, here
is an undeniable, a public fact, which is con-
nected with a thousand collateral ones, to prove-
that auricular confession is the most powerful
machine of demoralization which the world has

ever seen.

About the year 1830, there was in Quebec a fine-
looking young priest; he had a magnificent voice,
and was a pretty good speaker.* Through regard
for his family, which is still numerous and respect-
able, I will not give his name: I will call him

Rev. Mr. D . Having been invited to preach

in a parish of Canada, about 100 miles distant from
Quebec, called Vercheres, he was also requested to
hear the confessions, during a few days of a kind
of Novena (nine days of revival), which was going
on in that place- Among his penitents was a beau-
tiful young girl, about nineteen years old. She

*He is dead long ago.

THE PRIES7N WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 8f

wanted to make a general confession of all her sins
from the first age of. reason, and the confessor
granted her request. Twice, every day, she was^
there, at the feet of hnr handsome young spiritual
' physician, telling all her thoughts, her deeds, and
her desires. Sometimes sh<* was remarked to have
remained a whole hour in the confessional-box^
accusing herself of all her human frailties. What
did she say? God only knows; but what became
hereafter known by a great part of the entire part
of the population of Canada is, that the confessor
fell in love with his fair penitent, and that she
burned with the same irresistible fires for her con-
fessor— as it so often happens.

It was not an easy matter for the priest and the
young girl to meet each other in as complete a
tete-a-tete as they both wished; for there were too
many eyes upon them. But the confessor was a
man of resources. On the last day of Novena, he
said to his beloved penitent, u I am going now
to Montreal; but in three days, I will take the
steamer back to Quebec. That steamer is accus-
tomed to stop here. At about twelve, at night,
be on the wharf dressed as a young man; but let
no one know your secret. You will embark in the
steamboat, where you will not be known, if you
have any prudence. You will come to Quebec,

88 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

where you will be engaged as a servant boy by the
curate, of whom I am the vicar. Nobody will
know your sex except myself, and, there, we will
be happy together."

The fourth day after this, there was a great des-
olation in the family of the girl ; for she had sud-
denly disappeared, and her robes had been found
on the shores of the St Lawrence River. There
was not the least doubt in the minds of all relations
and friends, that the general confession she had
made, had entirely upset her mind ; and in an ex-
cess of craziness, she had thrown herself into the
deep and rapid waters of the St. Lawrence Many
searches were made to find her body ; but, of
course, all in vain. Many public and private
prayors were oifered to God to help her escape from
the flames of Purgatory, where she might be con-
demned to suffer for many years, and much money
was given to the priest to sing high masses, in
order to extinguish the fires of that burning prison,
where every Roman Catholic believes he must go
to be purified before entering the regions of eternal
happiness.

I will not give the name of the girl, though I
have it, through compassion for her family ; I will
call her Geneva.

Well, when father and mother, brothers, sisters,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 89

and friends were shedding tears at the sad end of
Geneva, she was in the parsonage of the rich Curate
of Quebec, well paid, well fed, and dressed — happy
and cheerful with her beloved confessor. She was
exceedingly neat in her person, always obliging,
and ready to run and do what you wanted at the
very twinkling of your eye. Her new name was
Joseph, by which I will now call her.

Many times I have seen the smart Joseph at the
parsonage of Quebec, and admired his politeness
and good manners ; though it seemed to me, some-
times, that he looked too much like a girl, and that
lie was a little too much at ease with the Eev. Mr.

D — , and also with the Eight Eev. Bishop

M — . But every time the idea came to me

that Joseph was a girl, I felt indignant with myself.
The high respect I had for the Coadjutor Bishop,
who was also the Curate of Quebec, made it almost
impossible to imagine that he would ever allow a
beautiful girl to sleep in the adjoining room to his
own, and to serve him day and night; for Joseph's
sleeping-room was just by that of the Coadjutor,
who, for several bodily infirmities (which were not
a secret to every one), wanted the help of his ser-
vant several times at night, as well as during the
day.

Things went on very smoothly with Joseph dur-

DO THE PRIEST WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL,

ing two or three years, in the Coadjutor Bishop's
house ; but at the end, it seemed to many people?
outside, that Joseph was taking too great airs of
familiarity with the young vicars, and even with,
the venerable Coadjutor. Several of the citizens
of Quebec, who were going more often than others
to the parsonage, were surprised and shocked at
the familiarity of that servant boy with his mas-
ters ; he really seemed sometimes to be on equal
terms with, if not somewhat above them.

An intimate friend of the Bishop — a most de-
voted Roman Catholic — who was my near relative,
took upon himself one day to respectfully say to
the Eight Eev. Bishop that it would be prudent to
turn out that impudent young man from his pal-
ace— that he was the object of strong and most
deplorable suspicions.

The position of the Eight Eev. Bishop and hi*
vicars, was, then, not a very agreeable one. Their
barque had evidently drifted among dangerous
rocks. To keep Joseph among them was impossi-
ble, after the friendly advice which had come from
such a high quarter; and to dismiss him was not
less dangerous ; he knew too much of the interior
and secret lives of all these holy (?) celibates, to
deal with him as with another common servant-
man. With a single word of his lips he could

THE PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 91

destroy them : they were as if tied to his feet by
ropes, which, at first, seemed made with sweet
cakes and ice-cream, but had suddenly turned into
burning steel chains. Several days of anxiety
passed away, and many sleepless nights succeeded
the too happy ones of better times. But what was
to be done ? There were breakers ahead ; breakers
on the right, on the left, and on every side. How-
ever, when everyone, particularly the venerable (?)
Coadjutor, felt as criminals who expect their sen-
tence, and that their horizon seemed surrounded
absolutely by only dark and stormy clouds, a happy
opening suddenly presented itself to the anxious
sailors.

The curate of " Les Eboulements," the Rev.
Mr. Clement, had just come to Quebec on some-
private business, and had taken up his quarters in
the hospitable house of his old friend, the Right

Rev. , Bishop Coadjutor. Both had been

on very intimate terms for many years, and in
many instances they had been of great service to-
each other. The Pontiff ot the Church of Canada,
hoping that his tried friend would perhaps help him
out of the terrible difficulty of the moment, frankly
told him all about Joseph, and asked him what he'
ought to do under such difficult circumstances.

" My Lord," said the curate of the Eboulements^

$2 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

" Joseph is just the servant I want. Pay him well,
that he may remain your friend, and that his lips
may be sealed, and allow me to take him with me.
My housekeeper left me a few weeks ago ; I am
alone in my parsonage with my old servant-man.
Joseph is just the person I want."

It would be difficult to tell the joy of the poor
Bishop and his vicars, when they saw that heavy
stone they had on their neck thus removed.

Joseph, once installed into the parsonage of the
pious (?) parish priest of the Eboulements, soon
gained the favor of the whole people by his good
and winning manners, and every parishioner com-
plimented the curate on the smartness of his new
servant. The priest, of course, knew a little more
of that smartness than the rest of the people.
Three years passed on very smoothly. The priest
and his servant seemed to be on the most perfect
terms. The only thing which marred the happi-
ness of that lucky couple was that, now and then,
some of the farmers whose eyes were sharper than
those of their neighbors, seemed to think that the
intimacy between the two was going a little too far,
and that Joseph was really keeping in his hands
the sceptre of the little priestly kingdom. Noth-
ing could be done without his advice ; he was
riddling in all the small and big affairs of the

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 93

parish, and the curate seemed sometimes to be
rather the servant than the master in his own house
and parish. Those who had, at first, made these
remarks privately, began, little by little, to convey
their views to their next neighbor, and this one to
the next : in that way, at the end of the third year,
grave and serious suspicions began to spread from
one to the other in such a way that the Marguilliers
(a kind of Elders), thought proper to say to the
priest that it would be better for him to turn Joseph
out than to keep him any longer. But the old
curate had passed so many happy hours with his
faithful Joseph that it was as hard as death to give
him up.

He knew, by confession, that a girl in the vicin-
ity was given to an unmentionable abomination, to
which Joseph was also addicted. He went to her
and proposed that she should marry Joseph, and
that he (the priest) would help them to live com-
fortably. Joseph, in order to live near his good
master, consented also to marry the girl. Both
knew very well what the other was. The banns
were published during three Sabbaths, after which
the old curate blessed the marriage of Joseph with
the girl of his parishioner.

They lived together as husband and wife, in such
harmony that nobody could suspect the horrible

94 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

depravity which was concealed behind that union.
Joseph continued, with his wife, to work often for
his priest, till after some time that priest was re-
moved, and another curate, called Tetreau? was
sent in his place.

This new curate, knowing absolutely nothing oi
that mystery of iniquity, employed also Joseph
and his wife, several times. One day, when Joseph
was working at the door of the parsonage, in the
presence of several people, a stranger arrived, and
enquired of him if the Kev. Mr. Tetreau, the cur*
•ate, was there.

Joseph answered " Yes, sir. But as you seem
to be a stranger, would you allow me to ask you
whence you come ? "

"It is very easy, sir, to satisfy you. I com©
from Vercheres," replied the stranger.

At the word " Yercheres " Joseph turned so pale
that the stranger could not but be struck with his
sudden change of color.

Then, fixing his eyes on Joseph, he cried out,
"Oh my God! what do I see here! Geneva f
Geneva ! I recognize you, and here you are in the
disguise of a man ! "

" Dear Uncle" (for it was her uncle), "for God's
sake," she cried, " do not say a word more !"

But it was too late. The people, who were there.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 95

liacl heard the uncle and niece. Their long secret
suspicions were well-founded — one of their former
priests had kept a girl under the disguise of a man
in his house ! and, to blind his people more
thoroughly, he had married that girl to another
one, in order to have them both in his house when
he pleased, without awakening any suspicion !

The news went almost as quick as lightning from
one end to the other of the parish, and spread all
over the northern country watered by the St. Law-
rence River.

It is more easy to imagine than express the sen-
timents of surprise and horror which filled every-
one. The justices of the peace took up the matter ;
Joseph was brought before the civil tribunal, which
decided that a physician should be charged to
make, not a post-morte?n, but an ante-mortem in-
quest. The Honorable Lateriere, who was called,
and made the proper inquiry, declared that Joseph
was a girl ; and the bonds of marriage were legally
dissolved.

During that time the honest Rev. Mr. Te'treau,
3truck with horror, had sent an express to the
Right Reverend Bishop Coadjutor, of Quebec, in-
forming him that the young man whom he had
kept in his house several years, under the name of
Joseph, was a girl.

96 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONCESSIONAL.

Now, what were they to do with the girl, aftei
all was discovered ? Her presence in Canada would
forever compromise the holy (?) Church of Rome.
She knew too well how the priests, through the
confessional, select their victims, and help them-
selves in their company, in keeping their solemn
vows of celibacy ! What would have become of
the respect paid to the priest, if she had been taken
by the hand and invited to speak bravely and boldly
before the people of Canada?

The holy (?) Bishop and his vicars understood
these things very well.

•They immediately sent a trustworthy man with
£500, to say to the girl that if she remained at
Canada, she could be prosecuted and severly pun-
ished ; that it was her interest to leave the country,
and emigrate to the United States. They offered
her the £500 if she would promise to go and never
return.

She accepted the offer, crossed the lines, and has
never gone back to Canada, where her sad history
is well known by thousands and thousands.

In the providence of God I was invited to preach
in that parish soon after, and I learned these facts
accurately.

The Rev. Mr. Tetreau, under whose pastorate
this great iniquity was detected, began from that

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 97

time to have his eyes opened to the awful depravity
of the priests of Rome through the confessional.

He wept and cried over his own degradation in
the midst of that modern Sodom. Our merciful
God looked down with compassion upon him, and
sent him His saving grace. Not long after, he sent
to the Bishop his renunciation of the errors and
abominations of Romanism.

To-day he is working in the vineyard of the Lord
with the Methodists in the city of Montreal, where
he is ready to prove the correctness of what I say.*

Let those who have ears to hear, and eyes to
see, understand, by this fact, that Pagan nations
have not known any institution more depraving
than Auricular Confession.

* This was written in 1874. Now, in 1880, I have to say-
that Rev. Mr. TGtreau died in 1877, in the peace of God, in
Montreal. Twice before his death he ordered out the priests of
Rome, who had come to try to persuade him to make his peace
with the Pope, calling them " Suppots de Satan "— ** Devil's
Messengers."

CHAPTER V.

THE HIGHLY- EDUCATED AND KEFINED WOMAN IN THE
CONFESSIONAL. WHAT BECOMES OF HER UNCON-
DITIONAL SURRENDER. HER IRREPARABLE RUIN.

THE most skilful warrior has never had to dis-
play so much skill and so many ruses de guerre
— he has never had to use moye tremendous efforts
to reduce and storm an impregnable citadel, than
the confessor, who wants to reduce and storm the
citadel of self-respect and honesty which God Him-
self has built around the soul and the heart of
every daughter of Eve.

But, as it is through woman that the Pope wants
to conquer the world, it is supremely important
that he should enslave and degrade her by keeping
her at his feet as his footstool, that she may become
a passive instrument for the accomplishment of his
vast and profound scheme.

In order perfectly to master women in the higher
circles of society, every confessor is ordered by the
Pope to learn the most complicated and perfect
strategy. He has to study a great number of

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 99

treatises on the art of persuading the fair sex to
confess to him plainly, clearly, and in detail, every
thought, every secret desire, word, and deed, just
as they occurred.

And that art is considered so important and so
difficult that all the theologians of Rome call it

" the art of arts."

ft , . — "

Dens, St. Liguori, Chevassu, the author of the
*' Mirror of the Clergy," Debreyne, and a multi-
tude of authors too numerous to mention, have
given the curious and scientific rules of that secret
art.

They all agree in declaring that it is a most diffi-
cult and dangerous art ; they all confess that the
least error of judgment, the least imprudence or
temerity, when storming the impregnable citadel,
is certain death (spiritual, of course) to the confes-
sor and the penitent.

The confessor is taught to make the first steps
towards the citadel with the utmost caution, in
order that his female penitent may not suspect at
first, what he wants her to reveal ; for that would
generally induce her to shut for ever the door of
the fortress against him. After the first steps of
advance, he is advised to make several steps back,
and to put himself in a kind of spiritual ambus-
cade, to see the effect of his first advance. If there

100 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

is any prospect of success, then the word "March
on!" is given, and a more advanced post of the
citadel must be tried and stormed, if possible. In
that way, little by little, the whole place is so well
surrounded, so well crippled, denuded and dis-
mantled, that any more resistance seems impossible
on the part of the rebellious soul.

Then, the last charge is ordered, the final assault
is made; and if God does not perform a real
miracle to save that soul, the last walls crumble,
the doors are beaten down; then the confessor
makes a triumphant entry into the place ; the very
heart, soul, conscience, and intelligence are con
quered.

When once master of the place, the priest visits
all its most secret recesses and corners ; he pries
into its most sacred chambers. The conquered
place is entirely and absolutely in his hands ; he is
the supreme master; for the surrender has been
unconditional. The confessor has become the only
infallible ruler in the conquered place — nay, he has
become its only God — for it is in the name of God
he has besieged, stormed and conquered it ; it is in
the name of God that, hereafter, he will speak and
be obeyed.

No human words can adequately convey an idea
of the irreparable ruin which follows the successful

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 101

♦storming and unconditional surrender of that, once,
noble fortress. The longer and stronger the resis-
tance has been, the more terrible and complete is
the destruction of its beauty and strength; the
nobler the struggle has been, the more irretrievable
are the ruin and loss. Just as the higher and
stronger the dam is built to stem the current of the
rapid and deep waters of the river, the more awful
will be the disasters which follows its destruction ;
so it is with that noble soul. A mighty dam has
been built by the very hand of God, called self-
respect and womanly-modesty, to guard her against
the pollutions of this sinful world; but the day that
the priest of Rome succeeds, after long efforts, in
destroying it, the soul is carried by an irresistible
power into unfathomable abysses of iniquity. Then
it is that the once respected lady will consent to
hear, without a blush, things against which the
most degraded woman would indignantly shut her
ears. Then it is that she freely speaks with her
confessor on matters, for reprinting which a printer
in England has lately been sent to jail.

At first, in spite of herself, but soon with a real
sensual pleasure, that fallen angel, when alone,
will think on what she has heard, and what she has
said in the confessional-box. Then, in spite of her-
self, the vilest thoughts will, at first irresistibly fill

102 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

her mind; and soon the thoughts will engender
temptations and sins. But those vile temptations
and sins, which would have filled her with horror
and regret before her entire surrender into the
hands of the foe, beget very different sentiments,
now that she is no more her own self-possessor and
guide. The conviction of her sins is no more con-
nected with the thought of a God, infinitely holy
and just, whom she must serve and fear. The
convictions of her sins is now immediately con-
nected with the thought of a man with whom she
will have to speak, and who will easily make every-
thing right and pure in her soul by his absolu-
tion.

When the day for going to confession comes,
instead of being sad, uneasy and bashful, as she
used to be formerly, she feels pleased and delighted
to have a new opportunity of conversing on those
matters without impropriety and sin to herself;
for she is now fully persuaded that there is no im-
propriety, no shame, no sin ; nay, she believes, or
tries to believe, that it is a good, honest, Christian,
and godly thing to converse with her priest on those
matters.

Her most happy hours are when she is at the
feet of that spiritual physician, showing him all the
aewly-made wounds of her soul, and explaining all

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 103

her constant temptations, her bad thoughts, her
most intimate secret desires and sins.

Then it is that the most sacred mysteries of the
married life are revealed ; then it is that the mys-
terious and precious pearls which God has given as
a crown of mercy to those whom He has made one
body, one heart and soul, by the blessed ties of a
Christian union, are lavishly thrown before swine.

Whole hours are passed by the fair penitent in
thus speaking to her Father Confessor with the
utmost freedom, on matters which would rank her
amongst the most profligate and lost women, if it
were only suspected by her friends and relatives.
A single word of those intimate conversations
would be followed by an act of divorce on the part
of her husband, if it were known by him.

But the betrayed husband knows nothing of the
dark mysteries of auricular confession ; the duped
father suspects nothing ; a cloud from hell has
obscured the intelligence of them both, and made
them blind. On the contrary, — husbands and
fathers, friends and relations, feel edified and
pleased with the touching spectacle of the piety of

Madam and Miss . In the village, as well

as in the city, every one has a word to speak in

their praise. Mrs. is so often seen humbly

prostrated at the feet, or by the side, of her con-

104 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

fessor ; Miss remains so long in the confes-
sional-box ; they receive the holy communion so
frequently ; they both speak so eloquently and so
often of the admirable piety, modesty, holiness,
patience, charity, of their incomparable spiritual
Father !

Every one congratulates them on their new and
exemplary life, and they accept the compliment
with the utmost humility, attributing their rapid
progress in Christian virtues to the holiness of their
confessor. He is such a spiritual man ; who could
not make rapid strides under such a holy guide ?

The more constant the temptations, the more
the secret sins overwhelm the soul, and the more
airs of peace and holiness are put on. The more
foul the secret emanations of the heart, the more
the fair and refined penitent surrounds herself by
an atmosphere of the sweetest perfumes of a sham
piety. The more polluted the inside of the sepul-
chre is, the more shining and white the outside will
be kept.

Then it is that, unless God performs a miracle to
prevent it, the ruin of that soul is sealed. She has
drunk in the poisonous cup filled by the "mother
of harlots," she has found the wine of her prosti-
tution sweet ! She will henceforth delight in her
spiritual and secret orgies.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 105

Her holy (?) confessor has told her that there is
no impropriety, no shame, no sin, in that cup.
The Pope has sacrilegiously written the word
"Life" on that cup of "Death." She has be-
lieved the Pope ; the terrible mystery of iniquity
is accomplished !

"The 'mystery of iniquity doth already work,
whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they received not the love of the
truth that they might be saved. And fortius cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un-
righteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.)

Yes; the day that the rich, well-educated lady
gives up her self-respect, and unconditionally sur-
renders the citadel of womanly modesty into the
hands of a man, whatever be his name or titles,
that he may freely put to her questions of the vilest
character, which she must answer, she is lost and
degraded, just as if she were the humblest and
poorest servant-girl.

I purposely say "the rich and well-educated
woman," for I know that there is a prevalent opin-
ion that the social position of her class places her

106 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

above the corrupting influences of the confessional,
as if she were out of the reach of the common mis-
eries of our poor fallen and sinful nature.

So long as the well-educated lady makes use oi
her accomplishments to defend the citadel of her
womanly self-respect against the foe — so long as
she sternly keeps the door of her heart shut against
her deadly enemy — she is safe.

But let no one forget this : she is safe only so-
long as she does not surrender. When the enemy
is once master of the place, I emphatically repeat,
the ruinous consequences are as great, if not greater,
and more irreparable than in the lowest classes of
society. Throw a piece of precious gold into the
mud, and tell me if it will not plunge deeper than
the piece of rotten wood.

What woman could be nobler, purer, and stronger
than Eve when she came from the hands of her
Divine Creator ? But how quickly she fell when
she gave ear to the seducing voice of the tempter !
How irreparable was her ruin when she complac-
ently looked on the forbidden fruit, and believed
the lying voice which told her there was " no sin "
in eating of it !

I solemnly, in the presence of the great God,
who ere long, will judge me, give my testimony on
this grave subject. After 25 years' experience in

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 10T

the confessional, I declare that the confessor him-
self encounters more terrible dangers when hearing
the confessions of refined and highly educated
ladies, than when listening to those of the humbler
classes of his female penitents.

I solemnly testify that the well-educated lady,
when she has once surrendered herself to the power
of her confessor, becomes at least as vulnerable to
the arrows of the enemy as the poorer and less
educated. Nay, I must say that, once on the down-
hill road of perdition, the high-bred lady runs
headlong into the pit with a more deplorable rapid-
ity than her humbler sister.

All Canada is witness that a few years ago, it
was among the highest ranks of society that the
Grand Yicar Superior of the college of Montreal,
was choosing his victims, when the public cry of
indignation and shame forced the Bishop to send
him back to Europe, where he, soon after, died.
Was it not also among the higher classes of society
that a superior of the Seminary of Quebec was
destroying souls, when he was detected, and forced,
during a dark night, to fly and conceal himself
behind the walls of the Trappist Monastery of
Iowa ?

Many would be the folio volumes which I should
have to write, were I to publish all that rvr tw< -ty-

108 THE PRIEST WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL -

five years' experience in the confessional lias taugtiu
me of the unspeakable secret corruption of the
greatest part of the so-called respectable ladies, who
have unconditionally surrendered themselves into
the hands of their holy (?) confessors. But the
following fact will suffice for those who have eyes
to see, ears to hear, and an intelligence to under-
stand : —

In one of the most beautiful and thriving towns
along the St. Lawrence River, lived a rich mer-
chant. He was young, and his marriage with a
most lovely, rich, and accomplished young lady
had made him one of the happiest men in the land.

A few years after his marriage, the Bishop ap-
pointed to that town a young priest, really remark-
able for his eloquence, zeal, and amiable qualities ;
and the merchant and the priest soon became con-
nected by links of the most sincere friendship.

The young, accomplished wife of the merchant
soon became the model woman of the place under
the direction of her new confessor.

Many and long were the hours she used to pass
by the side of her spiritual father to be purified
and enlightened by his godly advices. She soon
was seen at the head of the few who had the priv-
ilege of receiving the holy communion once a week.
The husband, who was a good Roman Catholic

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 109

himself, blessed God and the Virgin Mary, that
he had the privilege of living with such an ange?
of piety.

Nobody had the least suspicion of what was
going on under that holy and white mantle of the
most exalted piety. Nobody, except God and His
angels, could hear the questions put by the priest
to his fair penitent, and the answers made during
the long hours of their tSte-a-tete in the confession-
al-box. Nobody but God could see the hellish
fires which were devouring the hearts of the con-
fessor and his victim ! For nearly one year, both
the young priest and his spiritual patient enjoyed,
in those intimate and secret conversations, all the
pleasure which L>vers feel when they can speak
freely to each other of their secret thoughts and
love.

But this was not enough for them. They both
wanted something more real ; though the dim*
culties were great, and seemed insurmountable.
The priest had his mother and sister with him,
whose eyes were too sharp to allow him to invite
the lady to his own house for any criminal object,
and the young husband had no business, at a dis-
tance, which could keep him long enough out of
his happy home to allow the Pope's confessor to
accomplish his diabolical designs.

110 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

But when a poor fallen daughter of Eve has a
mind to do a thing, she very soon finds the means,
particularly if high education has added to her
natural shrewdness.

And in this case, as in many others of a similar
nature which have been revealed to me, she soon
found out how to attain her object without compro-
mising herself or her holy (?) confessor. A plan
was soon found and cordially agreed to ; and both
patiently awaited their opportunity.

"Why have you not gone to mass to-day and
received the holy communion, my dear?" said the
husband. " I had ordered the servant-man to put
the horse in the buggy for you, as usual."

" I am not very well, my beloved ; I have passed
a sleepless night from headache."

c ' I will send for the physician, ' ' replied the hus-
band.

' ' Yes, my dear ; do send for the physician—
perhaps he will do me good."

One hour after the physician called, and he found
his fair patient a little feverish, pronounced that
there was nothing serious, and that she would soon
"be well. He gave her a little powder, to be taken
three times a day, and left ; but at 9 P. M. , she
complained of a great pain in the chest, and soon
fainted and fell on the floor.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. Ill

The doctor was again immediately sent for, but
he was from home ; it took nearly half an hour
before he could come. When he arrived the alarm-
ing crisis was over — she was sitting in an arm-chair,
with some neighboring women, who were applying
cold water and vinegar to her forehead.

The physician was really at a loss what to say of
the cause of such a sudden illness. At last, he said
that it might be an attack of " ver solitaire " (tape-
worm). He declared that it was not dangerous ;
that he knew how to cure her. He ordered some
new powder to be taken, and left, after having
promised to return the next day. Half an hour
after, she began to complain of a most terrible pain
in her chest, and fainted again ; but before doing
so, she said to her husband: —

" My dear, you see that the physician under-
stands absolutely nothing of the nature of my dis-
ease. I have not the least confidence in him, for
I feel that his powders make me worse. I do not
want to see him any more. I suffer more than you
suspect, my beloved ; and if there is not soon a
change, I may be dead to-morrow. The only
physician I want is our holy confessor ; please make
haste to go and get him. I want to make a general
confession, and to receive the holy viaticum (com-
munion) and extreme unction before I grow worse.' !

112 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Beside himself with anxiety, the distracted hus-
band ordered the horse to be put in the buggy, and
made his servant accompany him on horseback,
to ring the bell, while his pastor carried " the good
god" (Le Bon Dieu) to his dear sick wife.

He found the priest piously reading his breviar-
ium (his book of daily prayers), and admired the
charity and promptitude with which his good pas-
tor, in that dark and chilly night, was ready to
leave his warm and comfortable parsonage at the
first appeal of the sick. In less than an hour, the
husband had taken the priest with "the good god *
from the church to the bedroom of his wife.

All along the way, the servant-man had rung a
big hand-bell, to awaken the sleeping farmers, who,
at the noise, had to jump, half naked, out of their
beds, and worhip, on their knees, with their faces
prostrate in the dust, " the good god " which was
being carried to the sick by the holy (?) priest.

On his arrival, the confessor, with every appear-
ance of sincere piety, deposited "the good god"
(Le Bon Dim) on a table richly prepared for such
a solemn occasion, and, approaching the bed,
leaned his head towards his penitent, and inquired
how she felt.

She answered him, " I am very sick, and I want
to make a general confession before 1 die,''

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 113

Speaking to her husband, she said, with a faint-
ing voice, "Please, my dear, tell my friends to
withdraw from the room, that I may not be dis-
tracted when making what may be my last confes-
sion."

The husband respectfully requested the friends
to leave the room with him, and shut the door, that
the holy confessor might be alone with his penitent
during her general confession.

One of the most diabolical schemes, under the
cover of auricular confession, had perfectly suc-
ceeded. The mother of harlots, the great enchan-
tress of souls, whose seat is on the city of the
" seven hills," had, there, her priest to bring;
shame, disgrace, and damnation, under the mask
of Christianity.

The destroyer of souls, whose masterpiece is
auricular confession, had, there, for the millionth
time, a fresh opportunity of insulting the God of
purity through one of the most criminal actions
which the dark shades of night can conceal.

But let us draw the veil over the abominations
of that hour of iniquity, and let us leave to hell its
dark secrets.

After he had accomplished the ruin of his victim
and most cruelly and sacrilegiously abused the con-
fidence of his friend, the young priest opened the

114 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

door of the room and said, with a sanctimonious
air, " You may now enter to pray with me, while
I give the last sacrament to our dear sick sister."

They came in : " the good god " (Ze Bon Dieu)
was given to the woman; and the husband, full of
gratitude for the considerate attention of his priest,
took him back to his parsonage, and thanked him
most sincerely for having so kindly come to visit
his wife in so chilly a night.

Ten years later I was called to preach a retreat
(a kind of revival) in that same parish. That lady,
then an absolute stranger to me, came to my con-
fessional-box and confessed to me those details as
I now give them. She seemed to be really peni-
tent, and I gave her absolution and the entire
pardon of her sins, as my Church told me to do.
On the last day of the revival, the merchant in-
vited me to a grand dinner. Then it was that I
came to know who my penitent had been. I must
not forget to mention that she had confessed to me
that, of her four children, the last three belonged
to her confessor ! He had lost his mother, and,
his sister having married, his parsonage had become
more accessible to his fair penitents, many of whom
had availed themselves of that opportunity to prac-
tice the lessons they had learned in the confessional.
The priest had been removed to a higher position,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 115

where he, more than ever, enjoyed the confidence
of his superiors, the respect of the people, and the
love of his female penitents.

I never felt so embarrassed in my life as when at
the table of that so cruelly victimised man. We
had hardly begun to take our dinner when he asked
me if I had known their late pastor, the amiable

Rev. Mr. .

I answered, u Yes, sir, I know him."
" Is he not a most accomplished priest?"
" Yes, sir, he is a most accomplished man," I
answered.

" Why is it," rejoined the good merchant, " that
the Bishop has taken him away from us ? He was
doing so well here ; he had so deservedly earned
the confidence of all by his piety and gentlemanly
manners that we made every effort to keep him
with us. I drew up a petition myself, which all
the people signed, to induce the Bishop to allow
him to remain in our midst ; but in vain. His
lordship answered us that he wanted him for a more
important place, on account of his rare ability, and
we had to submit. His zeal and devotedness knew
no bounds ; in the darkest and most stormy nights
he was always ready to come to the first call of the
sick ; I shall never forget how quickly and cheer-
fully he responded to my appeal when, a few years

116 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

ago, I went, on one of our most chilly nights, to re-
quest him to visit my wife, who was very sick."

At this stage of the conversation, I must confess
that I nearly laughed outright. The gratitude of
that poor dupe of the confessional to the priest
who had come to bring shame and destruction to
his house, and the idea of that very man going
himself to convey to his home the corruptor of his
own wife, seemed to me so ludicrous that for a
moment, I had to make a superhuman effort to
control myself.

But I was soon brought to my better senses by
the shame which I felt at the idea of the unspeak-
able degradation and secret infamy of the clergy of
which I was a member. At that instant, hundreds
of instances of similar, if not greater, depravity,
which had been revealed to me through the con-
fessional, came to my mind, and distressed and dis-
gusted me so that my tongue was almost paralysed.

After dinner, the merchant asked his lady to call
the children that I might see them, and I could
not but admire their beauty. But I do not need to
say that the pleasure of seeing these dear and lovely
little ones was much marred by the secret, though
sure, knowledge I had, that the three youngest
were the fruits of the unspeakable depravity of
auricular confession in the higher ranks of society.

CHAPTER VI.

AURICULAR CONFESSION DESTROYS ALL THE SACRED
TIES OF MARRIAGE AND HUMAN SOCIETY.

WOULD the banker allow his priest to open,
when alone, the safe of his bank, manipulate
and examine his papers, and pry into the most se-
cret details of his banking business ?

No ! surely not.

How is it then, that the same banker allows that
priest to open the heart of his wife, manipulate her
soul, and pry into the sacred chambers of her most
intimate and secret thoughts?

Are not the heart, the soul, the purity, and the
self-respect of his wife as great and precious treas-
ures as the safe of his bank ! Are not the risks
and dangers of temptations, imprudences, indis-
cretions, much greater and more irreparable in the
second, than in the first case ?

Would the jeweler or goldsmith allow his priest
to come, when he pleases, and handle the rich
.articles of his stores, ransack the desk where

118 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

the money is deposited, and play with it as he
pleases ?

No ! surely not.

But are not the heart, the soul, and the purity of
his dear wife and daughter a thousandfold more
valuable than his precious stones, or silver and
gold wares ? Are not the dangers of temptation
and indiscretions, on the part of the priest, more
formidable and irresistible in the second, than in
the first of these cases ?

Would the livery man allow his priest to take
his most valuable and unmanageable horses, when
he wishes, and drive alone, without any other con-
sideration and security than the discretion of his
priest ?

No ! surely not.

That livery man knows that he would soon be
ruined if he were to do so. Whatever may be his-
confidence in the discretion, honesty, and prudence
of his priest, he will never push his confidence so*
far as to give him the unreserved control of the
noble and fiery animals which are the glory of his
stables and the support of his family.

How then, can the same man trust the entire,,
absolute management of his wife and dear daugh-
ters to the control of that one, to whom he would
not entrust his horses ?

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 119"

Are not his wife and daughters as precious to
him as those horses ? Is there not greater danger
of indiscretions, mismanagement, irreparable and
fatal errors on the part of the priest, dealing alone
with his wife and daughters, than when driving
horses ? No human act of folly, moral depravity,
and want of common sense can equal the permis-
sion given by a man to his wife to go and confess
to the priest.

That day, he abdicates the loyal — I had almost
said divine — dignity of husband ; for it is from
God that he holds it ; his cown is forever lost,
his sceptre broken !

What would you do to any one mean enough to
peep or listen through the key-hole of your door in
order to hear or see anything that was said or done
within ? Would you show so little self-respect as
to tolerate such indiscretion ? Would you not
rather take a whip or a cane, and drive away the
villain ? Would you not even expose your life to
free yourself from his impudent curiosity ?

But what is the confessional if not the key-hole
of your house and of your very chamber, through
which the priest can hear and see your most secret
words and actions ; nay, more, know your most
intimate thoughts and aspirations.

>re you worthy of the name of men when you

120 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

submit yourselves to such sly and insulting inquisi-
tion? Do you deserve the name of men, who con-
sent to put up with such ignoble affront and humil-
iation ?

"The husband is the head of the wife even as
Christ is the Head of the Church." " Therefore,
as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the
wives be to their own husbands in everything " —
{Eph. v). If these solemn words are the true
oracles of divine wisdom, is not the husband di-
vinely appointed the only adviser, counsellor, help
of his wife, just as Christ is the only adviser, coun-
sellor, and help of His Church ?

If the Apostle was not an impostor when he said
that the wife, is to her husband what the body is to
the head, and that the husband is to his wife what
the head is to the body — is not the husband ap-
pointed by God to be the light, the guide, of his
wife ? Is it not his duty, as well as his privilege
and glory, to console her in her afflictions, strength-
en her in her hours of weakness, keep her up when
she is in danger of fainting, and encourage her
when she is on the rough and uphill ways of life ?

If Christ has not come to deceive the world
through his Apostle, must not the wife go to her
husband for advice ? Ought she not to expect from
him, and him alone, after God, the light she wants

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 121

and the consolation she is in need of ? Is it not to
her husband, and to him alone, after God, she
ought to look to in her days of trial for help ? Is
it not under his leadership alone she must fight the
battle of life and conquer ? Is not this mutual and
daily sharing of the anzieties of life, this constant
shouldering on the battle-field, and this reciprocal
and mutual protection and help renewed at every
hour of the day, which form, under the eyes and
by the mercy of God, the holiest and the purest
-charms of the married life? Is it not that unre-
served confidence in each other which binds togeth-
er those golden links of Christian love that make
them happy in the very midst of the trials of life?
Is it not through this mutual confidence alone that
they are one as God wants them to be one f Is it
not in this unity of thoughts, fears and hopes, joys
and love, which come from God, that they can
cheerfully cross the thorny valley, and safely reach
the Promised land \

The Gospel says that the husband is to his wife
what Christ is to His Church ! Is it not, then, a
most sacrilegious iniquity for a wife to look to
another rather than to her own husband for such
advice, wisdom, strength, and life, as he is entitled,
qualified, and ready to afford \ As no other man
has the right to her love, so no other man has any

122 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

right to her absolute confidence. As she becomes
an adulteress the day that she gives her body to
another man, is she any the less an adulteress the
day that she gives her confidence and trusts her
soul to a stranger? The adultery of the heart and
soul is not less criminal than the adultery of the
oody ; and every time the wife goes to the feet of
the priest to confess, does she not become guilty
of that iniquity ?

In the Church of Rome, through the confes-
sional, the priest is much more the husband of the
wife than the man to whom she was wedded at the
foot of the altar. The priest has the best part of
the wife. He has the marrow, when the husband
has the bones. He has the juice of the orange,
the husband has the rind. He has the soul and
the heart, the husband has the skeleton. He has
the honey, the husband has the wax cell. He has
the succulent oyster, the husband has the dry shell.
As much as the soul is higher than the body, so-
much are the power and privileges of the priest
higher than the power and privileges of the hus-
band in the mind of the penitent wife. As the
husband is the lord of the body which he feeds, so
the priest is the lord of the soul and the heart,
which he also feeds. • The wife, thoji, has two lords
and masters, whom she must love, respect and

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 12£

obey. Will she not give the best part of her love,
respect, and submission to the one who, in her
mind, is as much above the other as the heavens
are above the earth I But as she cannot serve two
masters together, will not the master who prepares
and fits her for an eternal life of glory, certainly be
the object of her constant, real, and most ardent
love, gratitude, and respect, when the worldly and
sinful man to whom she is married, will have only
the appearance and the crumbs of those senti-
ments ? Will she not naturally, instinctively serve,
love, respect, and obey, as lord and master, the
godly man, whose yoke is so light, so holy, so di-
vine, rather than the carnal man, whose human
imperfections are to her a source of daily trial and
suffering ?

In the Church of Rome, the thoughts and de-
sires, the secret joys and fears of the soul, the very
life of the wife, are sealed things to the husband.
He has no right to look into the sanctuary of her
heart ; he has no remedy to apply to the soul ; he
has no mission from God to advise her in the dark
hours of her anxieties ; lie has no balm to apply to
the bleeding wounds, so often received in the daily
battles of life ; he must remain a perfect stranger
in his own house.

The wife, expecting nothing from her husband,

124 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

lias no revelation to make to hitn, no favor to ask,
no debt of gratitude to pay. Nay, she shuts all
the avenues of her soul, all the doors and windows
of her heart, against her husband. The priest,
and the priest alone, has a right to her entire con-
fidence ; to him, and him alone, she will go and
reveal all her secrets, show all her wounds ; to him,
and him alone, she will turn her mind, her heart
and soul, in the hour of trouble and anxiety ; from
him, and him, alone, she will ask and expect the
light and consolation she wants. Every day, more
and more, her husband will become a stranger to
her, if he does not become a real nuisance, and an
obstacle to her happiness and peace.

Yes, through the confessional, an unfathomable
abyss has been dug by the Church of Rome, be-
tween the heart of the wife and the heart of the
husband. Their bodies may be very near each
other, but their souls, their real affections and their
confidence are at greater distance than the north
is from the south pole of the earth. The confessor
is the master, the ruler, the king of the soul ; the
husband, as the graveyard-keeper, must be satisfied
with the carcass !

The husband has the permission to look on the
outside of the palace ; he is allowed to rest his head
■on the cold marble of the outdoor steps ; but the

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 125

confessor triumphantly walks into the mysterious-
starry rooms, examines at leisure their numberless
and unspeakable wonders ; and, alone, he is allowed
to rest his head on the soft pillows of the un-
bounded confidence, respect, and love of the wife.

In the Church of Rome, if the husband ask a
favor from his wife, nine times in ten she will in-
quire from her father confessor whether or not she
can grant him his request ; and the poor husband
will have to wait patiently for the permission of the
master, or the rebuke of the lord, according to the
answer of the oracle which had to be consulted !
If he gets impatient under the yoke, and murmurs,
the wife will, soon, go to the feet of her confessor,
to tell him how she has the misfortune to be united
to a most unreasonable man, and how she has to
suffer from him ! She reveals to her ' ' dear father ' '
how she is unhappy under such a yoke, and how
her life would be an insupportable burden, had she
not the privilege and happiness of coming often to
his feet, to lay down her sorrows, hear his sympa-
thetic words, and get his so affectionate and pater-
nal advice ! She tells him, with tears of gratitude,
that it is only when by his side, and at his feet,
she finds rest to her weary soul, balm to her bleed-
ing heart, and peace to her troubled conscience.

When she comes from the confessional, her ears

126 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

are long filled as with a heavenly music : the hon-
ied words of her confessor ring for many days in
her heart : she feels it lonesome to be separated
from him : his image is constantly before her mind,
and the souvenir of his amiabilities is one of her
most pleasant thoughts. There is nothing which
she likes so much as to speak of his good qualities,
his patience, his piety, his charity ; she longs for
the day when she will again go to confess and pass
a few hours by the side of that angelic man, in
opening to him all the secrets of her heart, and in
revealing all her ennuis. She tells him how she
regrets that she cannot come oftener to see him,
and receive the benefits of his charitable counsels ;
she does not even conceal from him how often, in
her dreams, she feels too happy to be with him !
More and more every day the gap between her and
her husband widens. More and more each day she
regrets that she has not the happiness to be the
wife of such a holy man as her confessor ! Oh ! if

it were possible ! But then, she blushes or

smiles, and sings a song.

Then again, I ask, Who is the true lord, ruler,
and master in that house? For whom does that
heart beat and live ?

Thus it is that that stupendous imposture, the
'dogma of auricular confession, does completely

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 127

destroy all the links, the joys, the responsibilities,
and divine privileges of the married life, and trans-
forms it into a life of perpetual, though disguised,
adultery. It becomes utterly impossible, in the
Church of Rome, that the husband should be one
with his wife, and that the wife should be one with
her husband : a " monstrous being'' has been put
between them both, called the confessor. Born in
the darkest ages of the world, that being has received
from hell his mission to destroy and contaminate the
purest joys of the married life, to enslave the wife,
to outrage the husband, and to damn the world !
The more auricular confession is practiced, the
more the laws of public and private morality are
trampled under foot. The husband wants his wife
to be his — he does not, and could not, consent to
share his authority over her with anybody : he
wants to be the only man who will have her confi-
dence and her heart, as well as her respect and love.
And so, the very moment that he anticipates the
dark shadow of the confessor coming between him
and the woman of his choice, he prefers to shrink
from entering into the sacred bond ; the holy joys
of home and family lose their divine attractions ;
he prefers the cold life of an ignominious celibacy
to the humiliation and opprobium of the question-
able privileges of an uncertain paternity.

128 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

France, Spain, and many other Roman Catholic
countries, thus witness the multitude of those bach-
elors increasing every year. The number of fam-
ilies and births, in consequence, is fast decreasing
in their midst ; and, if God does not perform a
miracle to stop these nations in their downward
course, it is easy to calculate the day when they will
owe their existence to the tolerance and pity of the
mighty Protestant nations which surround them.

Why is it that the Irish Roman Catholic people
are so irreparably degraded and clothed in rags?
Why is it that that people, whom God has endowed
with so many noble qualities, seem to be so de-
prived of intelligence and self-respect that they
glory in their own shame ? Why is it that their
land has been for centuries the land of bloody riots
and cowardly murders ? The principal cause is the
enslaving of the Irish women, by means of the
confessional. Every one knows that the spiritual
slavery and degradation of the Irish woman has no
bounds. After she has been enslaved and degraded,
she, in turn, has enslaved and degraded her hus-
band and her sons. Ireland will be an object of
pity ; she will be poor, miserable, riotous, blood-
thirsty, degraded, so long as she rejects Christ, to-
be ruled by the father confessor, planted in every
parish by the Pope.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL 129

Who lias not been amazed and saddened Vy the
downfall of France? How is it that her once so
mighty armies have melted away, that Ler brave
sons have so easily been conquered and disarmed ?
How is it that France, fallen powerless at the feet
of her enemies, has frightened the wo/ld by the
spectacle of the incredible, bloody, and savage fol-
lies of the Commune ? Do not look for the causes
of the downfall, humiliation, and untold miseries of
France anywhere else than in the confessional.
For centuries has not that great country obstinately
rejected Christ ? Has she not slaughtered or sent
into extfe her noblest children, who wanted to
follow the Gospel ? Has she not given her fair
daughters into the hands of the confessors, who
have defiled and degraded them? How could
woman, in France, teach her husband and sons to
love liberty, and die for it, when she was herself a
miserable, an abject slave ? How could she form
her husband and sons to the manly virtues of
heroes, when her own mind was defiled and her
heart corrupted by the priest ?

The French woman had unconditionally surren-
dered the noble and fair citadel of her heart, intel-
ligence, and womanly self-respect into the hands of
her confessor long before her sons surrendered
their swords to the Germans at Sedan and Paris.

130 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

The first unconditional surrender had brought the
second.

The complete moral destruction of woman by the
confessor in France has been a long work. It has
required centuries to bow down, break, and en-
slave the noble daughters of France. Yes ; but
those who know France, know that that destruction
is now as complete as it is deplorable. The down-
fall of woman in France, and her supreme degrada-
tion through the confessional, is now un fait
accompli, which nobody can deny ; the highest
intellects have seen and confessed it. One of the
most profound thinkers of that unfortunate country,
Michelet, has depicted that supreme and irretriev-
able degradation in a most eloquent book, " The
Priest, The Woman, The Family ;" and not a voice
has been raised to deny or refute what he has said.
Those who have any knowledge of history and
philosophy know very well that the moral degrada-
tion of the woman is soon followed everywhere by
the moral degradation of the nation, and the moral
degradation of the nation is very soon followed by
ruin and overthrow.

The French nation had been formed by God to
^e a race of giants. They were chivalrous and
brave ; they had bright intelligences, stout hearts,
strong arms and a mighty sword. But as the hard-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 131

est granite rock yields and breaks under the drop
of water which incessantly falls upon it, so that
great nation had to break and to fall into pieces
under, not the drop, but the rivers of impure waters
which, for centuries, have incessantly flowed in
upon it from the pestilential fountain of the confes-
sional. % " Kighteousness exalteth a nation, but sin
vs a reproach to any people." (Proverbs xiv.)

In the sudden changes and revolutions of these
latter days, France is also sharing ; and the Church
of Kome has received a blow there, which, though
perhaps only temporary in its character, will help
to awaken the people to the corruption and fraud
of the priesthood.

Why is it that Spain is so miserable, so weak, so
poor, so foolishly and cruelly tearing her own
bosom, and reddening her fair valleys with the
blood of her own children ? The principal, if not
the only, cause of the downfall of that great nation
is the confessional. There, also, the confessor has
defiled, degraded, enslaved women, and women in
turn have defiled and degraded their husbands and
sons. Women have sown broadcast over their
country the seeds of that slavery, of that want of
Christian honesty, justice, and self-respect with
which they had themselves been first imbued in the
confessional.

132 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

But when you see, without a single exception,
the nations whose women drink the impure and
poisonous waters, which flow from the confessional,
sinking down so rapidly, do you not wonder how
fast the neighboring nations, who have destroyed
those dens of impurity, prostitution, and abject
slavery, are rising up ? What a marvellous con-
trast is before our eyes ? On one side, the nations
who allow the women to be degraded and enslaved
at the feet of her confessor — France, Spain, Romish
Ireland, Mexico, &c, &c. — are, there, fallen into
the dust, bleeding, struggling, powerless, like the
sparrow whose entrails are devoured by the vulture.

On the other side, see how the nations whose
women go to wash their robes in the blood of the
Lamb, are soaring up, as on eagle wings, in the
highest regions of progress, peace, and liberty !

If legislators could once understand the respect
and protection they owe to women, they would
soon, by stringent laws, prohibit auricular confes-
sion as contrary to good mopals and the welfare of
society ; for, though the advocates of auricular con-
fession have succeeded, to a certain extent, in
blinding the public, and in concealing the abomi-
nations of the system under a lying mantle of holi-
ness and religion, it is nothing else than a school
of impurity.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 135

1 say more than that. After twenty-five years
of hearing the confessions of the common people
and of the highest classes of society, of the laymen
and the priests, of the grand vicars and bishops
and the nuns ; I conscientiously say before the
world, that the immorality of the confessional is of
a more dangerous and degrading nature than that
which we attribute to the social evil of our great
cities. The injury caused to the intelligence and
to the soul in the confessional, as a general rule, is
of a more dangerous nature and more irremediable,
because it is neither suspected nor understood by
its victims.

The unfortunate woman who lives an immoral
life knows her profound misery ; she often blushes
and weeps over her degradation ; she hears, from
every side, voices which call her out of those ways
of perdition. Almost at every hour of day and
night, .the cry of her conscience warns her against
the desolation and suffering of an eternity passed
far away from the regions of holiness, light, and
life. All those things are often so many means of
grace, in the hands of our merciful God, to awaken
the mind, and to save the guilty soul. But in the
confessional the poison is administered under the
name of a pure and refreshing water ; the deadly
blow is inflicted by a sword so well oiled that the

134 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

wound is not felt ; the vilest and most impure
notions and thoughts, in the form of questions and
answers, are presented and accepted as the bread
of life ! All the notions of modesty, purity, and
womanly self-respect and delicacy, are set aside
and forgotten to propitiate the god of Rome. In
the confessional the woman is told, and she be-
lieves, that there is no sin for her in hearing things
which would make the vilest blush — no sin to say
things which would make the most desperate villain.
on the streets of London to stagger — no sin to con-
verse with her confessor on matters so filthy that,
if attempted in civil life, would forever exclude the
perpetrator from the society of the virtuous.

Yes, the soul and the intelligence defiled and
destroyed in the confessional are often hopelessly
defiled and destroyed. They are sinking into a
complete, an irretrievable perdition ; for, not know-
ing the guilt, they will not cry for mercy — not sus-
pecting the fatal disease that is being fostered, they-
will not call for the true Physician. It was, evi-
dently, when thinking of the unspeakable ruin
of the souls of men through the wickedness cul-
minating in the Pope's confessors, that the Son
of God said: — " If the blind lead the blind,,
both shall fall into the ditch. " To every woman,,
with very few exceptions, coming out from the feet

THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 135

of her confessor, the children of light may say : —
"I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, but thou art dead — (Revelations iii.).

Nobody has yet been, nor ever will be able to
answer the few following lines, which I addressed
some years ago to the Rev. Mr. Bruyere, Roman
Catholic Vicar-General of London, Canada : —

" With a blush on my face, and regret in my
heart, I confess, before God and man, that I have
been like you, and with you, through the confes-
sional, plunged for twenty-five years in that bot-
tomless sea of iniquity, in which the blind priests
of Rome have to swim day and night.

" I had to learn by heart, like you, the infamous
questions which the Church of Rome forces every
priest to learn. I had to put those impure, im-
moral questions to old and young females, who
were confessing their sins to me. These questions
— you know it — are of such a nature that no prosti-
tute would dare to put them to another. Those
questions, and the answers they elicit, are so debas-
ing that no man in London — you know it — except
a priest of Rome, is sufficiently lost to every sense
of shame, as to put them to any woman.

" Yes, I was bound, in conscience, as you are
bound to-day, to put into the ears, the mind, the
imagination, the memory, the heart and soul of

136 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

females, questions of such a nature, the direct and
immediate tendency of which — you know it well —
is to till the minds and the hearts of both priests
and female penitents with thoughts, phantoms, and
temptations of such a degrading nature, that I do
not know any words adequate to express them.
Pagan antiquity has never seen any institution more
polluting than the confessional. I know nothing
more corrupting than the law which forces a female
to tell her thoughts, desires, and most secret feel-
ings and actions to an unmarried priest. The con-
fessional is a school of perdition. You may deny
that before the Protestants ; but you cannot deny
it before me. My dear Mr. Bruyere, if you call
me a degraded man, because I have liVed twenty-
five years in the atmosphere of the confessional,
you are right. I was a degraded man, just as your-
self and all the priests are to-day, in spite of your
denegations. If you call me a degraded man be-
cause my soul, my mind, and my heart were, as
your own are to-day, plunged into the deep waters
of iniquity which flow from the confessional, I
confess, J Guilty ! ' I was degraded and polluted
by the confessional, just as you and all the priests
of Rome are.

u It has required the whole bb,od of the great
Victim, who died on Calvary for sinners, to purify

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 137

me ; and I pray that, through the same blood, you
may be purified also.*'

If the legislators knew the respect and protection
they owe to women — I repeat it — they would, by
the most stringent laws, prohibit auricular confes-
sion as a crime against society.

Xot long ago, a printer in England was sent to
jail and severely punished for having published in
English the questions put by the priest to the wom-
en in the confessional ; and the sentence was equit-
able, for all who will read those questions will
conclude that no girl or woman who brings her
mind into contact with the contents of that book
can escape from moral death. But what are the
priests of Rome doing in the confessional ? Do
they not pass the greatest part of their time in
questioning females, old and young, and hearing
their answers, on those very matters? If it were
a crime, punishable by law, to present those ques-
tions in a book, is it not a crime far more punishable
by law to present those very things to married and
unmarried women through the auricular confession?

I ask it from every man of common sense. AVhat
is the difference between a woman or a girl learn-
ing those things in a book, or learning them from
the lips of a man ? Will not those impure, demor-
alizing suggestions sink more deeply into their

138 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

minds, and impress themselves more forcibly in
their memory, when told to them by a man of au-
thority speaking in the name of Almighty God,
than when read in a book which has no authority ?
I say to the legislators of Europe and America,
"Head for yourselves those horrible, unmention-
able things ;" and remember that the Pope has
more than 100,000 priests whose principal work is
to put those very things into the intelligence and
memory of the women whom they entrap into their
snares. Let us suppose that each priest hears the
confessions of only live female penitents every day
(though we know that the daily average is ten) :
it gives the awful number of 500,000 women whom
the priests of Eome have the legal right to pollute
and destroy each day of the year !

Legislators of the so-called Christian and civil-
ized nations ! I ask it again from you, Where is
your consistency, your justice, your love of public
morality, when you punish so severely the man
wTho has printed the questions put to the woman in
the confessional, while you honor and let free, and
often pay the men whose public and private life is
spent in spreading the very same moral poison in a
much more efficacious, scandalous, and shameful
way, under the mask of religion !

The confessional is in the hands of the devil,.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 13£

what West Point is to the United States, and Wool-
wich is to great Britain, a training of the army to
fight and conquer the enemy. It is in the confes-
sional that 500,000 women every day, and 182,-
000,000 every year, are trained by the Pope in the
art of fighting against God, by destroying them-
selves and the whole world, through every imagin-
able kind of impurity and filthiness.

Once more, I request the legislators, the hus-
bands, and the fathers in Europe, as well as in
America and Australia, to read in Dens, Liguori,
Debreyne, in every theological book of Home,
what their wives and their daughters have to learn
in the confessional.

In order to screen themselves, the priests of
Rome have recourse to the following miserable sub-
terfuge : — " Is not the physician forced," they say,
"to perforin certain delicate operations on women I
Do you complain of this ? No ! you let the phy-
sician alone ; you do not abuse them in their ardu-
ous and conscientious duties. Why, then, should
you insult the physician of the soul, the confessor,
in the accomplishment of his holy, though delicate
duties?"

I answer, first, The art and science of the physi-
cian are approved and praised in many parts of the
(Scriptures. But the art and science of the confcs-

140 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

sor are nowhere to be found in the holy records.
Auricular confession is nothing else than a most
stupendous imposture. The filthy and impure
questions of the confessor, with the polluting an-
swers they elicit, were put among the most diabol-
ical and forbidden actions by God Himself, the day
that the Spirit of Truth, Holiness, and Life wrote
the imperishable words — "Let no corrupt commu-
nication proceed out of your mouth." (Eph. iv. 29.)

Secondly, The physician is not bound by a sol-
emn oath to remain ignorant of the things which it
will be his duty to examine and cure. But the
priest of Rome is bound, by the most ridiculous and
impious oath of celibacy, to remain ignorant of the
very things which are the daily objects of his in-
quiries, observation, and thoughts ! The priest of
Rome has sworn never to taste of the fruits with
wThich he feeds his imagination, his memory, his
heart, and his soul day and night ! The physician
is honest in the performance of his duties ; but the
priest of Rome becomes, in fact, a perjured man,
every time he enters the confessional-box.

Thirdly, If a lady has a little sore on her small
finger, and is obliged to go to the physician for a
remedy, she has only to show her little finger, allow
the plaster or ointment to be applied, and all is
finished. The physician never — no never — says to

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. lil

that lady, "It is my duty to suspect that you have
many other parts of your body which are sick; I
am bound in conscience, under pain of death, to
examine you from head to foot, in order to save
your precious life from those secret diseases, which
may kill you if they are not cured just now. Sev-
eral of those diseases are of such a nature that you
never dared perhaps to examine them with the
attention they deserve, and you are hardly conscious
of them. I know, madam, that this is a very pain-
ful and delicate thing for both you and me, that I
should be forced to make that thorough examina-
tion of your person ; however, there is no help ; I
am in duty bound to do it. But you have nothing
te fear. I am a holy man, who have made a vow
of celibacy. We are alone ; neither your husband
nor your father will ever know the secret infirmities
I may find in you : they will never even suspect
the perfect investigation I will make, and they will,
forever, be ignorant of the remedy I will apply."

Has any physician ever been authorized to speak
or act in this way with any of his female patients I
No, — never ! never !

But this is just the way the spiritual .physician,.
by whom the devil enslaves and corrupts women,
acts. When the fair, honest, and timid spiritual
patient has come to her confessor, to show him the

142 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

little sore she has on the small finger of Tier soul,
the confessor is hound in conscience to suspect that
she has other sores — secret, shameful sores ! Yes,
he is bound, nine times out of ten ; and he is
always allowed to suppose that she does not dare to
reveal them ! Then he is advised by the Church
to induce her to let him search every corner of the
heart, and of the soul, and to inquire about all
kinds of contaminations, impurities, secret, shame-
ful, and unspeakable matters ! The young priest
is drilled in the diabolical art of going into the
most sacred recesses of the soul and the heart,
almost in spite of his penitents. I could bring
hundreds of theologians as witnesses to the truth of
what I here say : but it is enough just now to cite
three: —

" Lest the confessor should indolently hesitate
in tracing out the circumstances of any sin, let him
have the following versicle of circumstances in read-
iness :

" Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo,
quando. Who, which, where, with whom, why,
how, when." (Dens, vol. 6, p. 123. Liguori,
vol. 2, p. 464.)

The celebrated book of the Priests, " The Mir-
ror of the Clergy," page 357, says:

M Oportet ut Confessor solet cognoscere quid quid

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 143

debet judicare. Deligens igitur inquisitor et sub-
tillls investigator sapienter, quasi astute, interrogat
a peccatore quod ignorat, vel verecundia volit oc-
cultare."

" It is necessary that the confessor should know
everything on which he has to exercise his judg-
ment. Let him then, with wisdom and subtility,
interrogate the sinners on the sins which they may
ignore, or conceal through shame !"

The poor unprotected girl is, thus, thrown into
the power of the priest, soul and body, to be ex-
amined on all the sins she may ignore, or which,
through shame, she may conceal ! On what a
boundless sea of depravity the poor fragile bark is
launched by the priest ! On what bottomless
abysses of impurities she will have to pass and
travel, in company with the priest alone, before he
will have interrogated her on all the. sins she may
ignore, or which she may have concealed through
shame ! ! Who can tell the sentiments of surprise,
shame, and distress, of a timid, honest, young girl,
when, for the first time, she is initiated, through
those questions, to infamies which are ignored even
in houses of prostitution ! ! !

But such is the practice, the sacred duty of the
spiritual physician. "Let him (the priest confes-
sor), with wisdom and subtlety, interrogate the

144

sinners on the sins they may Ignore or conceal
through shame."

And there are more than 100,000 men, not only
allowed, but petted, and often paid by so-called
Protestant, Christian, and civilised governments to
do that under the name of the God of the Gospel !
. Fourthly, I answer to the sophism of the priest :
When the physician has any delicate and danger-
ous operation to perform on a female patient, he is
never alone ; the husband, or the father, the moth-
er, the sister, or some friends of the patient are
there, whose scrutinising eyes and attentive ears
make it impossible for the physician to say or do
any improper thing.

But when the poor, deluded spiritual patient
comes to be treated by her so-called spiritual physi-
cian, and shows him her disease, is she not alone —
shamefully alone — with him ? Where are the pro-
tecting ears of the husband, the father, the mother,
the sisters, or the friends 1 Where is the barrier
interposed between this sinful, weak, tempted, and
often depraved man and his victim ?

Would the priest so freely ask this and that from
a married woman, if he knew that her husband
could hear him ? No, surely not ! for he is well
aware that the enraged husband would blow out the
brains of the villian who, under the sacrilegious

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 145

pretext of purifying the soul of his wife, is filling
her breast with every kind of pollution and infamy.

Fifthly, When the physician performs a delicate
operation on one of his female patients, the oper-
ation is usually accompanied with pain, cries, and
often with bloodshed. The sympathetic and hon-
est physician suffers almost as much pain as his pa-
tient; those cries, acute pains, tortures, and bleed-
ing wounds make it morally impossible that the
physician should be tempted to any improper thing.

But the sight of the spiritual wounds of that fair
penitent! Is the poor depraved human heart
really sorry to see and examine them? Oh, no! it
is just the contrary.

The dear Saviour weeps over those wounds; the
angels are distressed at the sight. Yes ! But the
deceitful and corrupt heart of man! is it not rather
apt to be pleased at the sight of wounds which are
so much like the ones he has himself so often been
pleased to receive from the hand of the enemy?

Was the heart of David pained and horror-struck
at the sight of the fair Bathsheba, when, impru-
dently, and too freely, exposed in her bath? Was
not that holy prophet smitten, and brought down
to the dust, by that guilty look? Was not the
mighty giant, Samson, undone by the charms of
Delilah? Was not the wise Solomon ensnared and

146 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

befooled in the midst of the women by whom he
was surrounded?

Who will believe that the bachelors of the Pope
are made of stronger metal than the Davids, the
Samsons and the Solomons? Where is the man
who has so completely lost his common sense as to
believe that the priests of Rome are stronger than
Samson, holier than David, wiser than Solomon?
Who will believe that confessors will stand up on
their feet amidst the storms which prostrate in the
dust those giants of the armies of the Lord? To
suppose that, in the generality of cases, the confes-
sor can resist the temptations by which he is daily
surrounded in the confessional, that he will con-
stantly refuse the golden opportunities, which offer
themselves to him, to satisfy the almost irresistible
propensities of his fallen human nature, is neither
wisdom nor charity; it is simply folly.

I do not say that all the confessors and their fe-
male penitents fall into the same degree of abject
degradation; thanks be to God, I have known sev-
eral, who nobly fought their battles, and conquered
€ii that field of so many shameful defeats. But
these are the exceptions. It is just as when the
iire has ravaged one of our grand forests of Amer-
ica— how sad it is to see the numberless noble trees
fallen under the devouring element ! But, here

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 147

-and there, the traveler is not a little amazed and
pleased, to find some which have proudly stood the
fiery trial, without being consumed.

Was not the world at large struck with terror,
when they heard of the fire which, a few years ago,
reduced the great city of Chicago to ashes! But
those who have visited that doomed city, and seen
the desolating ruins of her 16,000 houses, had to
stand in silent admiration before a few, which, in
the very midst of an ocean of fire, had escaped un-
touched by the destructive element.

It is a fact, that owing to a most marvelous pro-
tection of God, some privileged souls, here and
there, do escape the fatal destruction which over-
takes so many others in the confessional.

The confessional is like the spider's web. How
many too unsuspecting Hies find death, when seek-
ing rest on the beautiful framework of their deceit-
ful enemy! How few escape! and this only after
a most desperate struggle. See how the perfidious
spider looks harmless in his retired, dark corner;
how motionless he is; how patiently he waits for
his opportunity! But look how quickly he sur-
rounds his victim with his silky, delicate, and im-
perceptible links! how mercilessly he sucks ' its
blood and destroys its life !

What remains of the imprudent fly, after she has

148 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

been entrapped into the nets of her foe? Nothing
but a skeleton. So it is with your fair wife, your
precious daughter; nine times out of ten, nothing;
but a moral skeleton returns to you, after the Pope's
black spider has been allowed to suck the very
blood of her heart and soul. Let those who would
be tempted to think that I exaggerate, read the
following extracts from the memoirs of the Vener-
able Scipio de Ricci, Roman Catholic Bishop of
Pistoia and Prato, in Italy. They were published
by the Roman Catholic Italian Government, to
show to the world that some measures had to be
taken, by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, to
prevent the nation from being entirely swept away
by the deluge of corruption flowing from the con-
fessional, even among the most perfect of Rome's
followers, the monks and the nuns. The priests
have never dared to deny a single iota of these ter-
rible revelations. On page 115 we read the follow*
ing letter from sister Flavia Peraccini, Prioress of
St. Catharine, to Dr. Thomas Camparina, Rector
of the Episcopal Seminary of Pistoia: —

" In compliance with the request which you made
me this day, I hasten to say something, but I kno\V
not how.

" Of those who have gone out of the world, I shall
say nothing. Of those who are still alive and have

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 149

very little decency of conduct, there are many,
among whom there is an ex-provincial named
Father Dr. Ballendi, Calvi, Zoratti, Bigliaci, Guidi,
Miglieti, Verde, Rianchi, Ducci, Seraphini, Bolla,
Nera di Luca, Quaretti, &c. But wherefore any
more? With the exception of three or four, all
those whom I have ever known, alive or dead, are
of the same character; they have all the same
maxims and the same conduct.

" They are on more intimate terms with the nuns
than if they were married to them! I repeat it, it
would require a great deal of time to tell half of
what I know. It is the custom now, when they
come to visit and hear the confession of a sick
sister, to sup with the nuns, sing, dance, play, and
sleep in the convent. It is a maxim of theirs that
God has forbidden hatred, but not love; and that
man is made for woman and woman for man.

" I say that they can deceive the innocent and
the most prudent and circumspect, and that it would
be a miracle to converse with them and not fall!''

Page 117. — "The priests are the husbands of
the nuns, and the lay brothers of the lay sisters.
In the chamber of one of the nuns I have men-
tioned, a man was one day found; he fled away*
but, soon after, they gave him to us as our confes-
sor extraordinary.

150 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

"How many bishops are there in the Pa^al
States who have come to the knowledge of those
disorders, have held examinations and visitations,
and yet never could remedy it, because the monks,,
our confessors, tell us that those are excommuni-
cated who reveal what passes in the Order!

" Poor creatures ! they think they are leaving the
world to escape dangers, and they only meet with
greater ones. Our fathers and mothers have given
us a good education, and here we have to unlearn
and forget what they have taught us."

Page 188. — " Do not suppose Jhat this is the
case in our convent alone. It is just the same at
St. Lucia, Prato, Pisa, Perugia, &c. I have known,
things that would astonish you. Everywhere it is
the same. Yes, everywhere the same disorders,,
the same abuses prevail. I say, and I repeat it,
let the superiors suspect as they may, they do not
know the smallest pai;t of the enormous wicked-
ness that goes on between the monks and the nuns
whom they confess. Every monk who passed by
on his way to the chapter, entreated a sick sister
to confess to him, and !"

Page 119. — "With respect to Father Buzachini,
I say that he acted just as the others, sitting up
late in the nunnery, diverting himself, and letting
the usual disorders go on. There were several]

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 151

nuns who had love affairs on his account. His
own principal mistress was Odaldi, of St. Lucia,
who used to send him continual treats. He was
also in love with the daughter of our factor, ot
whom they were very jealous here. He ruined also
poor Caneellieri, who was sextoness. The monks
are all alike with their penitents.

" Some years ago, the nuns of St. Vincent, in
consequence of the extraordinary passion they had.
for their father confessors Lupi and Borghini, were
divided into two parties, one calling themselves
Le Lupe, the other Le Borghiani.

" He who made the greatest noise was Donati-
I believe he is now at Rome. Father Brandi, too,,
was also in great vogue. I think he is now Prior
of St. Gemignani. At St. Vincent, which passes
for a very holy retreat, they have also their lov-
ers ."

My pen refuses to reproduce several things which,
the nuns of Italy have published against their
father confessors. But this is enough to show to
the most incredulous that the confession is noth-
ing else but a school of perdition, even among those
who make a profession to live in the highest
regions of Roman Catholic holiness— the monks
and the nuns.

Now, from Italy let us go to America and see

152 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

again the working of auricular confession, not be-
tween the holy ( ?) nuns and monks of Rome, but
among the humblest classes of country women and
priests. Great is the number of parishes where
women have been destroyed by their confessors,
but I will speak only of one.

When curate of Beauport, I was called by the
Bev. Mr. Proulx, curate of St. Antoine, to preach
a retreat (a revival) with the Rev. Mr. Aubry, to
his parishioners, and eight or ten other priests were
also invited to come and help us to hear the con-
fessions.

The very first day, after preaching and passing
five or six hours in the confessional, the hospitable
curate gave us a supper before going to bed. But
it was evident that a kind of uneasiness pervaded
the whole company of the father confessors. For
my own part I could hardly raise my eyes to look
at my neighbor; and, when I wanted to speak a
word, it seemed that my tongue was not free as
usual; even my throat was as if it were choked:
the articulation of the sounds was imperfect. It
was evidently the same with the rest of the priests.
Instead, then, of the noisy and cheerful conversa-
tions of the other meals, there were only a few in-
significant words exchanged with a half-suppressed
tone.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 153

The Rev. Mr. Proulx (the curate) at first looked
as if he also were partaking of that singular, though
general, despondent feeling. During the first part
of the lunch he hardly said a word; but, at last,
raising his head, and turning his honest face towards
us, in his usual gentlemanly, and cheerful manner,
he said: —

"Dear friends, I see that you are all under the
influence of the most painful feelings. There is a
burden on you that you can neither shake off nor
bear as you wish. I know the cause of your trouble,
and I hope you will not find fault with me, if I
help you to recover from that disagreeable mental
condition. You have heard, in the confessional,
the history of many great sins; but I know that
this is not what troubles you. You are all old
enough in the confessional to know the miseries of
poor human nature. Without any more prelimi-
naries, I will come to the subject. It is no more a
secret in this place, that one of the priests who has
preceded me, has been very unfortunate, weak, and
guilty with the greatest part of the married women
whom he has confessed. Not more than one in ten
has escaped him. I would not mention this fact
had I got it only from the confessional, but I know
it well from other sources, and I can speak of it
freely, without breaking the secret seal of the con-

154 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

fessional. Now, what troubles you is that, proba-
bly, when a great number of those women have
confessed to you what they had done with their
confessor, you have not asked them how long it
was since they had sinned with him, and in spite
of yourselves, you think that I am the guilty man.
This does, naturally, embarrass you, when you are
in my presence, and at my table. But please ask
them, when they come again to confess, how many
months or years have passed away since their last
love affair with a confessor; and you will see that
you may suppose that you are in the house of an
honest man. You may look me in the face, and
have no fears to address me as if I were still worthy
of your esteem; for, thanks be to God, I am not
the guilty priest who has ruined and destroyed so
many souls here."

The curate had hardly pronounced the last word,
when a general " We thank you, for you have
taken away a mountain from our shoulders," fell
from almost every lip.

" It is a fact that, notwithstanding the good'
opinion we had of you," said several, " we were
in fear that you Jiad missed the right track, and
fallen down with your fair penitents, into the
ditch."

I felt much relieved; for I was one of those who,.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSION AX. 155-

in spite ot myself, had my secret fears about the
honesty of our host. When, very early the next
morning, I had begun to hear the confessions, one
of those unfortunate victims of the confessor's de-
pravity came to me, and in the midst of many tears
and sobs, she told me, with great details, what I
repeat here in a few lines: —

" I was only nine years old when my first con-
fessor began to do very criminal things with me,
every time I was at his feet confessing my sins.
At first, I was ashamed and much disgusted; but
soon after, I became so depraved that I was look-
ing eagerly for every opportunity of meeting him,
either in his own house, or in the church, in the
vestry, and many times, in his own garden, when
it was dark at night. That priest did not remain
very long; he was removed, to my great regret, to
another place, where he died. He was succeeded
by another one, who seemed at first to be a very
holy man. I made to him a general confession
with, it seemed to me, a sincere desire to give up
forever, that sinful life; but I fear that my confes-
sions became a cause of sin to that good priest;
for, not long after my confession was finished, ho
declared to me, in the confessional, his love, with
such passionate words, that he soon brought me
down again into my former criminal habits with

156 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

him. This lasted six years, when my parents re-
moved to this place. I was very glad for it, for I
hoped that, being away from him, I should not be
any more a cause of sin to him, and that I might
beofin a better life. But the fourth time that I went
to confess to my new confessor, he invited me to
go to his room, where we did things so disgusting
together, that I do not know how to confess them.
It was two days before my marriage, and the only
child I have had is the fruit of that sinful hour.
After my marriage, I continued the same criminal
life with my confessor. He was the friend of my
husband; we had many opportunities of meeting
each other, not only when I was going to confess,
but when my husband was absent and my child
was at school. It was evident \o me that several
other women were as miserable and criminal as I
was myself. This sinful intercourse with my con-
fessor went on, till God Almighty stopped it with
a real thunderbolt. My dear only daughter had
gone to confess, and received the holy communion.
As she came back from church much later than I
expected, I inquired the reason which had kept her
so long. She then threw herself into my arms,
and, with convulsive cries said, — < Dear mother, do

not ask me to go to confess any more Oh! if

you could know what my confessor asked me when

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 157

I was at his feet! and if you could know what he
has done with me, and he has forced me to do with
him, when he had me alone in his parlor!"

" My poor child chould not speak any longer; she
fainted in my arms.

"As soon as she recovered, without losing a
minute, I dressed myself, and, full of an inexpres-
sible rage, I directed my steps towards the parson-
age. But before leaving my house, I had concealed
under my shawl a sharp butcher's knife, to stab
and kill the villain who had destroyed my dearly
beloved child. Fortunately for that priest, God
changed my mind before I entered his room: my
words to him were few and sharp.

'"You are a monster! " I said to him. 'Not
satisfied to have destroyed me, you want to destroy
my own dear child, which is yours also! Shame
upon you! I had come with this knife, to put an
end to your infamies; but so short a punishment
would be too mild a one for such a monster. I
want you to live, that you may bear upon your
head the curse of the too unsuspecting and un-
guarded friends whom you have so cruelly deceived
and betrayed, I want you to live with the con-
sciousness that you are known by me and many
others, as one of the most infamous monsters who
has ever defiled this world. But know that if you

158 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

are not away from this place before the end of this
week, I will reveal everything to my husband; and
you may be sure that he will not let you live
twenty-four hours longer; for he sincerely thinks
your daughter is his; he will be the avenger of her
honor! I go to denounce you, this very day, to
the bishop, that he may take you away from this
parish, which you have so shamelessly polluted."

" The priest threw himself at my feet, and, with
tears, asked my pardon, imploring me not to de-
nounce him to the bishop, and promising that he
would change his life and besrin to live as a good
priest. But I remained inexorable. I went to the
bishop, and warned his lordship of the sad conse-
quences which would follow, if he kept that curate
any longer in this place, as he seemed inclined to
do. But before the eight clays had expired, he
was put at the head of another parish, not very far
away from here."

The reader will, perhaps, like to know what has
become of this priest.

He remained at the head of that most beautiful
parish of Beaumont, as curate, where, I know it
for a fact, he continued to destroy his penitents,
till a few years before he died, with the reputation
of a good priest, an amiable man, ,and a holy con-
fessor !

THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL. 159

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: ....

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of His coming:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie :

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thess. ii. 7 — 12).

CHAPTER VII.

SHOULD AURICULAR CONFESSION BE TOLERATED
AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS.

LET my readers who understand Latin, peruse
the extracts I give from Bishop Kennck,
Debreyne, Burchard, Dens, or Liguori, and the
most incredulous will iearn for themselves that the
world, even in the darkest ages of old paganism,
has never seen anything more infamous and de-
grading' as auricular confession.

To say that auricular confession purifies the
soul, is not less ridiculous and silly than to say
that the white robe of the virgin, or the lily of the
valley, will become whiter by being dipped into a
bottle of black ink.

Has not the Pope's celibate, by studying his
books before he goes to the confessional-box, cor-
rupted his own heart, and plunged his mind,
memory, and soul into an atmosphere of impurity
which would have been intolerable even to the
people of Sodom?

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 161

We ask it not only in the name of religion, but
of common sense. How can that man, whose heart
and memory are just made the reservoir of all the
grossest impurities the world has ever known, help
others to he chaste and pure?

The idolaters of India believe that they will be
purified from their sins by drinking the water with
which they have just washed the feet of their priests.

What monstrous doctrine! The souls of men
purified by the water which has washed the feet of
a miserable, sinful man ! Is there any religion
more monstrous and diabolical than the Brahmin
religion ?

Yes, there is one more monstrous, deceitful, and
contaminating than that. It is the religion which:
teaches that the soul of man is purified by a few
magical words (called absolution; which come from
the lips of a miserable sinner, whose heart and in-
telligence have just been filled by the unmention-
able impurities of Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, Ken-
rick, &c., &c. For if the poor Indian's soul is not
purified by the drinking of the holy (?) water
which has touched the feet of his priest, at least
that soul cannot be contaminated by it. But who
does not clearly see that the drinking of the vile
questions of the confessor contaminate, defile and
damn the soul ?

162 THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL.

Who has not been filled with deep compassion
and pity for those poor idolaters of Hindoostan,
who believe that they will secure to themselves a
happy passage to the next life, if they have the
good luck to die when holding in their hands the
tail of a cow? But there are people among us who
are not less worthy of our supreme compassion and
pity; for they hope that they will be purified from
their sins and be forever happy, if a few magical
words (called absolution) fall upon their souls from
the polluted lips of a miserable sinner, sent by the
Pope of Rome. The dirty tail of a cow, and the
magical words of a confessor, to purify the souls
and wash away the sins of the world, are equally
inventions of the devil. Both religions come from
Satan, for they equally substitute the magical
power of vile creatures for the blood of Christ, to
save the guilty children of Adam. They both ig-
nore that the blood of the Lamb alone cleanseth us
from all sin.

Yes! auricular confession is a public act of
idolatry. It is asking from a man what God alone,
through His Son Jesus, can grant: forgiveness of
sins. Has the Saviour of the world ever said to
sinners, " Go to this or that man for repentance,
pardon and peace?" No: but he 'has said to all
sinners, " Come unto me." And from that day to

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 163

the end of the world, all the echoes ci heaven and
earth will repeat these words of the merciful
Saviour to all the lost children of Adam — " Come
unto me."

When Christ gave to His disciples the power of
the keys in these words, u whatsoever ye shall bind
on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatso-
ever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heav-
en" (Matt, xviii. 18), He had just explained His
mind by saying, " If thy brother shall trespass
against thee " (v. 15)." The Son of God Himself,
in that solemn hour, protested against the stupen-
dous imposture of Rome, by telling us positively
that that power of binding and loosing, forgiving
and retaining sins, was only in reference to sins
committed against each other. ■ Peter had correctly
understood his Master's words, when he asked,
"How oft shall my brother sin against me and I
forgive him?"

And in order that His true disciples might not
be shaken by the sophisms of Rome, or by the
glittering nonsense of that band of silly half-Popish
Episcopalians, called Tractarians, Ritualists, or
Puseyites, the merciful Saviour gave the admirable
parable of the poor servant, which He closed by
what He has so often repeated, " So likewise shall
my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye, from

164: THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

your hearts, forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses." (Matt, xviii. 35.)

Not long before, He had again mercifully given
us His whole mind about the obligation and power
which every one of His disciples had of forgiving :
" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
Heavenly Father will also forgive you ; but if ye
forgive men not their trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses. " (Matt. vi. 14, 15.)

" Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is
merciful ; forgive and ye shall be forgiven." (Luke
vi. 36, 37.)

Auricular Confession, as the Rev. Dr. Wain-
wright has so eloquently put it in his " Confession
not Auricular," is a diabolical caricature of the
forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ, just
as the impious dogma of Transubstantiation is a
monstrous caricature of the salvation of the world
through His death.

The Romanists, and their ugly tail, the Ritual-
istic party in the Episcopal Church, make a great
noise about the words of our Saviour, in St. John :
" Whatsoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto
them : and whatsoever sins ye retaiu, they are re-
tained." (John xx. 23.)

But again, our Saviour had Himself, once for all,
explained what He meant by forgiving and retain-

THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 165

ing sins — Matt, xviii. 35 ; Matt. vi. 14, 15 ; Luke
vi. 36, 37.

Nobody but wilfully-blind men could misunder-
stand Him. Besides that, the Holy Ghost Him-
self has mercifully taken care that we should not
be deceived by the lying traditions of men, on that
important subject, when in St. Luke He gave us
the explanation of the meaning of John xx. 23, by
telling us, " Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and
to rise from the dead the third day : and that re-
pentance and remission of sins should be preached
in Llis name among all nations, beginning at Jeru-
salem." (Luke xxiv. 46, 47.)

In order that we may better understand the
words of our Saviour in St. John xx. 23, let us put
thorn face to face with His own explanations (Luke
xxiv. 46, 47).

LUKE XXIV. JOHN XX.

33. And they rose up the 18. Mary Magdalene came
same hour and returned to Je- and told the disciples that she
rusalem and found the eleven had seen the Lord, and that
gathered together, and them he had spoken these things
that were with them. ' unto her.

34. Saying, the Lord is risen
indeed, and hath appeared to
Simon

36. And as they thus spake, 19. Then the same day at

Jesus himself stood in the evening, being the first day of

midst of them, and said unto the week, when the doora

them, Peace be unto you. were shut where the disciples

166 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AJSD CONFESSIONAL.

37. But they were terrified
and affrighted, and supposed
that they had seen a spirit.

38. And he said unto them,
Why are ye troubled? and
why do thoughts arise m your
hearts ?

39. Behold my hands and
my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones
as ye see me have.

40. And when he had thus
spoken, he showed them his
hands and his feet

41. And while they yet be-
lieved not for joy, and won-
dered, he said unto them,
Have ye here any meat ?

42. And they gave him a
piece of a broiled fish, and of
an honeycomb.

43. And he took it, and did
eat before them.

44. And he said unto them,
'these are the words which I
spoke unto you, while I was
yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled, which were
written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in
the psalms concerning me.

45. Then opened he their
understancling,that they might
understand the Scriptures,

46. And said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it
behoved Christ to suffer, and
to rise from the dead the third
day.

were assembled, for fear or the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in
the midst, and saith untd
them, Peace be unto you.

20. And when he had so
said, he shewed unto them his
hands and his side. Then
were the disciples glad, when
they saw the Lord.

21. Then said Jesus to them
again, Peace be unto you: as
my Father hath sent me, even
so send I you.

22. And when he had said
this, he breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive-
ye the Holy Ghost :

THE PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 167

41. And that repentance and 23. Whose soever sins ye

remission of sins should be remit, they are remitted unto

preached in his name among them ; whose soever sins ye

all nations, beginning at Jeru- retain, they are retained,
salem.

Three tilings are evident from comparing the
report of St. John and St. Luke : —

1. The j speak of the same event, though one of
them gives certain details omitted by the other, as
we find in the rest of the gospels.

2. The words of St. John, "Whose soever sins
ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose
soever sins ye retain, they are retained," are ex-
plained by the Holy Ghost Himself, in St. Luke,
as meaning that the apostles shall preach repent-
ance and forgiveness of sins through Christ. It is
just what our Saviour has Himself said in St.
Matthew ix. 13 : " But go ye and learn what that
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice : fur
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance."

It is just the same doctrine taught by Peter
(Acts ii. 38): "Then Peter said ento them, Re-
pent, and be baptised every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Just the same doctrine of the forgiveness of sins,
not through auricular confession or absolution, but

168 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

through the preaching of the Word : "Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of
sins " (Acts xiii. 38).

3. The third thing which is evident is that the
apostles were not alone when Christ appeared and
spoke, but that several of His other disciples, even
some women, were there.

If the Romanists, then, could prove that Christ
established auricular confession, and gave the power
of absolution, by what He said in that solemn hour,
women as well as men — in fact, every believer in
Christ— would be authorized to hear confessions
and give absolution. The Holy Ghost was not
promised or given only to the Apostles, but to
every believer, as we see in Acts i. 15, and ii.
1, 2, 3.

But the Gospel of Christ, as well as the history
of the first ten centuries of Christianity, is the wit-
ness that auricular confession and absolution are
nothing else but a sacrilegious as well as a most
stupendous imposture.

What tremendous efforts the priests of Rome
have made, these last five centuries, and are still
making, to persuade their dupes that the Son of
God was making of them a privileged caste, a caste
endowed with the Divine and exclusive power of

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 169

opening and shutting the gates of Heaven, when
He said, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth,
shall be bound in Heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall
loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."

But our adorable Saviour, who perfectly foresaw
those diabolical efforts on the part of the priests of
Rome, entirely upset every vestige of their founda-
tion by saying immediately, " Again I say unto
you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as
touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father which is in Heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in
My name, there am I in the midst of them " (Matt,
xviii. 19, 20.)

Would the priests of Rome attempt to make us
believe that these words of the 19th and 20th verses
are addressed to them exclusively? They have not
yet dared to say it. They confess that these words
are addressed to all His disciples. But our Saviour
positively says that the other words, implicating
(he so-called power of the priests to .hear the con-
fession and give the absolution, are addressed to
the very same persons — " I say unto you," &c, &c.
The you of the 19th and 20th verses is the same
yi9?/, of the 18th. The power of loosing and un-
loosing is, then, given to all — those who would be
offended and would forgive. Then, our Saviour

170 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

had not in His mind to form a caste of men with
any marvellous power over the rest of His disci-
ples. The priests of Rome, then, are impostors,
and nothing else, when they say that the power of
loosing and unloosing sins was exclusively granted
to them.

Instead of going to the confessor, let the Chris-
tian go to his merciful God, through Christ, and
say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
them that trespass against us." This is the Truth,
not as it comes from the Vatican, but as it comes
from Calvary, where our debts were paid, with the
only condition that we should believe, repent and
love.

Have not the Popes publicly and repeatedly
anathematized the sacred principle of Liberty of
Conscience? Have they not boldly said, in the
teeth of the nations of Europe, that Liberty of
Conscience must be destroyed — killed at any cost?
Has not the whole world heard the sentence of
death to liberty coming from the lips of the old
man of the Vatican ? But where is the scaffold on
which the doomed Liberty must perish ? That
scaffold is the confessional-box. Yes, in the con-
fessional, the Pope has his 100,000 high execu-
tioners ! There they are, day and night, with sharp
daggers in hand, stabbing Liberty to the heart.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 171

In vain will noble France expel her old tyrants
in order to be free ; in vain will she shed the pur-
est blood of her heart to protect and save liberty !
True liberty cannot live a day there so long as the*
executioners of the Pope are free to stab her on
their 100,000 scaffolds.

In vain chivalrous Spain will call Liberty to give
a new life to her people. Liberty cannot set her
feet there, except to die, so long as the Pope is
allowed to strike her in his 50,000 confessionals.

And free America, too, will see all her so dearly-
bought liberties destroyed, the day that the con-
fessional-box is universally reared in her midst.

Auricular Confession and Liberty cannot stand
together on the same ground ; either one or the
other must fall.

Liberty must sweep away the confessional, as she
has swept away the demon of slavery, or she is
doomed to perish.

Can a man be free in his own house, so long as
there is another who has the legal right to spy all
his actions, and direct not only every step, but
every thought of his wife and children? Can that
man boast of a home whose wife and children are
under the control of another ? Is not that unfor-
tunate man really the slave of the ruler and mas-
ter of his household ? And when a whole nation

172 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

is composed of such husbands and fathers, is it not
a nation of abject, degraded slaves ?

To a thinking man, one of the most strange
phenomena is that our modern nations allow their
most sacred rights to be trampled under foot, and
destroyed by the Papacy, the sworn enemy of Lib-
erty, through a mistaken respect and love for that
same Liberty !

No people have more respect for Liberty of Con-
science than the Americans ; but has the noble
State of Illinois allowed Joe Smith and Brigham
Young to degrade and enslave the American wom-
en under the pretext of Liberty of Conscience,
appealed to by the so-called " Latter-day Saints ? "
No ! The ground was soon made too hot for the
tender conscience of the modern prophets. Joe
Smith perished when attempting to keep his cap-
tive wives in his chains, and Brigham Young had
to fly to the solitudes of the Far West, to enjoy
what he called his liberty of conscience with the
thirty women whom he had degraded, and en-
chained under his yoke. But even in that remote
solitude the false prophet has heard the distant
peals of the roaring thunder. The threatened voice
of the great Republic has troubled his rest, and
before his death he wisely spoke of going as much
as possible out of the reach of Christian civilisation,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 173

before the dark and threatening clouds which he
saw on the horizon would hurl upon him their ir-
resistible storms.

Will any one blame the American people for so
going to the rescue of women? No, surely not..

But what is this confessional box ? Nothing but
a citadel and stronghold of Mormonism.

What is this Father Confessor, with few excep-
tions, but a lucky Brigham Young ?

I do not want to be believed on my ipse dixit.
What I ask from serious thinkers is, that they
should read the encyclicals of the Piuses, the
Gregorys, the Benoits, and many other Popes,
"De Sollicitantibus." There they will see, with
their own eyes, that, as a general thing, the con-
fessor has more women to serve him than the Mor-
mon prophets ever had. Let him read the memoirs
of one of the most venerable men of the Church of
Rome, Bishop Scipio de Picci, and they will see,
with their own eyes, that the confessors are more
free with their penitents, even nuns, than husbands
are with their wives. Let them hear the testimony
of one of the noblest princesses of Italy, Henrietta
Carracciolo, who still lives, and they will know
that the Mormons have more respect for women
than the greater part of the confessors have. Let
them read the personal experience of Miss O'Gor-

174 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

man, five years a nun in the United States, and
they will understand that the priests and their fe>
male penitents, even nuns, are outraging all the
laws of God and man, through the dark mysteries
of auricular confession. That Miss O'Gorman, as
well as Miss Henrietta Carracciolo, are still living.
Why are they not consulted by those who like to
know the truth, and who fear that we exaggerate
the ^infamies which come from u auricular confes-
sion" as from their infallible source? Let them
hear the lamentations of Cardinal Baronius, St.
Bernard, Savanarola, Pius, Gregory, St. Therese,
St. Liguori, on the unspeakable and irreparable
ruin spread all along the ways and all over the
countries haunted by the Pope's confessors, and
they will know that the confessional-box is the daily
witness of abominations which would hardly have
been tolerated in the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let the legislators, the fathers and husbands of
every nation and tongue, interrogate Father Gav-
azzi, Grassi, and thousands of living priests who,
like myself, have miraculously been taken out from
that Egyptian servitude to the promised land, and
they will tell you the same old, old story — that the
confessional-box is for the greatest part of the con-
fessors and female penitents, a real' pit of perdition,
into which they promiscuously fall and perish

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 175

Yes ; they will tell you that the soul and heart of
your wife and daughter are purified by the magical
words of the confessional, just as the souls of the
poor idolaters of Hindoostan are purified by the
tail of the cow which they hold in their hands, when
they die. Study the pages of the past history of
England, France, Italy, Spain, &c, &c, and you
will see that the gravest and most reliable histor-
ians have, everywhere, found mysteries of iniquity in
the confessional-box which their pen refused to trace.

In the presence of such public, undeniable, and
lamentable facts, have not the civilised nations a
duty to perform ? Is it not time that the children
of light, the true disciples of the Gospel, all over the
world, should rally round the banners of Christ, and
go, shoulder to shoulder, to the rescue of women?

Woman is to society what the roots are to the
most precious trees of your orchard. If you knew
that a thousand worms are biting the roots of those
noble trees, that their leaves are already fading
away, their rich fruits, though yet unripe, are fall-
ing on the ground, would you not unearth the roots
and sweep away the worms ?

The confessor is the worm which is biting, pol-
luting, and destroying the very roots of civil and
religious society, by contaminating, debasing, and
enslaving woman.

176 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Before the nations can see the reign of peacev
happiness, and liberty, which Christ has promised,
they must, like the Israelites, pull down the walls
of Jericho. The confessional is the modern Jer-
icho, which defiantly dares the children of God !

Let, then, the people of the Lord, the true
soldiers of Christ, rise up and rally around His
banners ; and let them fearlessly march, shoulder
to shoulder, on the doomed city : let all the trum-
pets of Israel be sounded around its walls : let
fervent prayers go to the throne of Mercy, from the
heart of every one for whom the Lamb has been
slain : let such a unanimous cry of indignation be
heard, through the length and breadth of the land,
against that greatest and most jnonstrous imposture
of modern times, that the earth will tremble under
the feet of the confessor, so that his very knees will
shake, and soon the walls of Jericho will fall, the
confessional will disappear, and its unspeakable
pollutions will no more imperil the very existence
of society.

Then the multitudes who were kept captive will
come to the Lamb, who will make them pure with
His blood and free with His word.

Then the redeemed nations will sing a song of
joy : " Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth, is fallen ! is fallen!"1

CHAPTER VIII,

DOES AURICULAR CONFESSION BRING PEACE TO
THE SOUL?

THE connecting of Peace with Auricular Con
fession is surely the most cruel sarcasm ever
uttered in human language.

It would be less ridiculous and false to admire-
the calmness of the sea, and the stillness of the
atmosphere, when a furious storm raises the foan>-
ing waves to the sky, than to speak of the Peace
of the soul either during or after the confession.

I know it ; the confessors and their dupes chorus,
every tune by crying "Peace, peace!" But the*
God of truth and holiness answers, "There is do
peace for the wicked ! "

The fact is, that no human words can adequately
express the anxieties of the soul before confession^
its unspeakable confusion in the act of confessing
or its deadly terrors after confession.

Let those who have never drunk of the bitter
waters which flow from the confessional box, read

178 THE PRIESTj WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

the following plan and correct recital of my own
first experience in auricular confession. They are
nothing less than the history of what nine-tenths
of the penitents* of Rome, old and young, are sub-
ject to; and they will know what to think of that
marvelous Peace about which Romanists, and their
silly copyists, the Ritualists, have written so many
eloquent lies.

In the year 1819, my parents had sent me from
Murray Bay {La Mai Bate), where they lived, to
an excellent school at St. Thomas. I was then
about nine years old. I boarded with an uncle,
who, though a nominal Roman Catholic, did not
believe a word of what his priest preached. But
my aunt had the reputation of being a very devot-
ed woman. Our schoolmaster, Mr. John Jones,
was a well-educated Englishman, and a staunch
PROTESTANT. This last circumstance had ex-
cited the wrath of the Roman Catholic priest
against the teacher and his numerous pupils to such
an extent, that they were often denounced from the
pulpit with very hard words. But if he did not
like us, I must admit that we were paying him with
his own coin.

But let us come to my first lessen in Auricular

*By the word $e?iitents, Rome means not thoss who re$enty
but those who confess to the priest.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 179

Confession. No ! No words can express to those
who have never had any experience in the matter,
the consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor
Bomish child, when he hears his priest saying from
the pulpit, in a grave and solemn tone: "This
week you will send your children to confession.
Make them understand that this action is one of
the most important of their lives, that for every
one of them it will decide their eternal happiness
or ruin. Fathers, mothers and guardians of those
children, if, through your fault or theirs, your chil-
dren are guilty of a false confession : if they do not
confess everything to the priest who holds the place
of God Himself, this sin is often irreparable: the
devil will take possession of their hearts, they will
lie to their father confessor, or rather to Jesus
Christ, of whom he is the representative : their
lives will be a series of sacrileges, their death and
eternity those of reprobates. Teach them, there-
fore, to examine thoroughly all their actions, words,
thoughts and desires, in order to confess every-
thing just as it occurred, without any disguise."

I was in the Church of St. Thomas, when these
words fell upon me like a thunderbolt. I had often
heard my mother say, when at home, and my aunt,
since I had come to St. Thomas, that upon the first
confession depended my eternal happiness or mis-

180 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

ery. That week was, therefore, to decide the vital
question of my eternity !

Pale and dismayed, I left the Church after the
service, and returned to the house of my relations.
I took my place at the table, but could not eat, so
much was I troubled. I went to my room for the
purpose of commencing my examination of con-
science, and to try to recall every one of my sinful
actions, thoughts and words !

Although scarcely over nine years of age, this
task was really overwhelming to me. I knelt
down to pray to the Virgin Mary for help, but I
was so much taken up with the fear of forgetting
something or making a bad confession, that I mut-
tered my prayers without the least attention to
what I said. It became still worse, when I com'
menced counting my sins ; my memory, though
very good, became confused ; my head grew dizzy ;
my heart beat with a rapidity which exhausted me,
my brow was covered with perspiration. After a
considerable length of time spent in these painful
efforts, I felt bordering on despair from the fear
that it was impossible for me to remember exactly
everything, and to confess each sin as it occurred.
The night following was almost a sleepless one ;
and when sleep did come, it could hardly be called
sleep, but a suffocating delirium. In a frightful

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 181

dream, I felt as if I had been cast into hell, for not
having confessed all my sins to the priest. In the
morning I awoke fatigued and prostrate by the
phantoms and emotions of that terrible night. In
similar troubles of mind were passed the three
days which preceded my first confession.

I had constantly before me the countenance of
that stern priest who had never smiled on me. He
was present to my thoughts during the days, and in
my dreams during the nights, as the minister of an
angry God, justly irritated against me on account
of my sins. Forgiveness had indeed been prom-
ised to me, on condition of a good confession ; but
my place had also been shown to me in hell, if my
confession was not as near perfection as possible.

Now, my troubled conscience told me that there
were ninety chances against one that my confession
would be bad, either if by my own fault, I forgot
some sins, or if I was without that contrition of
which I had heard so much, but the nature and
effects of which were a perfect chaos in my mind.

At length came the day of my confession, or
father of judgment and condemnation. I presented
myself to the priest, the Rev. Mr. Beaubien.

He had, then, the defects of lisping or stammer-
ing, which we often turned into ridicule. And, as
nature had unfortunately endowed me with admir-

182 THE PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

able powers as a mimic, the infirmities of this poor
priest afforded only too good an opportunity for
the exercise of my talent. Not only was it one of
my favorite amusements to imitate him before the
pupils amidst roars of laughter, but also, I preached
portions of his sermons before his parishioners with
similar results. Indeed, many of them came from
considerable distances to enjoy the opportunity of
listening to me, and they, more than once, rewarded
me with cakes of maple sugar, for my perform-
ances.

These acts of mimicry were, of course, among
my sins ; and it became necessary for me to ex-
amine myself upon the number of times I had
mocked the priests. This circumstance was not
calculated to make my confession easier or more
agreeable.

At last, the dread moment arrived, I knelt for
the first time at the side of my confessor, but my
whole frame trembled : I repeated the prayer pre-
paratory to confession, scarcely knowing what I
said, so much was I troubled by fears.

By the instructions which had been given us
before confession, we had been made to believe
that the priest was the true representative, yea,
almost the personification of Jesus Christ. The
consequence was that I believed rny greatest sin.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 183

was that of mocking the priest — and I, as I had
been told that it was proper first to confess the
greatest sins, I commenced thus: "Father, I ac-
cuse myself of having mocked a priest !"

Hardly had I uttered these words, " mocked a
priest,*" when this pretended representative of the
humble Jesus, turning towards me, and looking in
my face, in order to know me better, asked abrubt-
ly : " What priest did you mock, my boy ?"

I would have rather chosen to cut out my tongue
than to tell him, to his face, who it was. I, there-
fore, kept silent for a while ; but my silence made
him very nervous, and almost angry. With a
haughty tone of voice, he said : " What priest did
you take the liberty of thus mocking, my boy ? "
I saw that I had to answer. Happily, his haught-
iness had made me bolder and firmer ; I said r
"Sir, you are the priest whom I mocked ! "

"But how many times did you take upon your-
self to mock me, my boy ? ' ' asked he, angrily.

u I tried to find out the number of times, but I
never could."-

"You must tell me how many times; for to
mock one's own priest, is a great sin."

" It is impossible for me to give you the number
of times," I answered.

"Well, my child, I will help your memory by

184 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

asking you questions. Tell me the truth. Do yov
think you mocked me ten times? "

" A great many times more," I answered.

■" Have you mocked me fifty times ? "

" Oh ! many more still ! ' '

11 A hundred times? "

*" Say five hundred, and perhaps more," I an-
swered.

u Well, my boy, do you spend all your time in
mocking me ? "

u Not all my time ; but, unfortunately, I have
•done it very often."

u Yes, you may well say ' unfortunately ! ' for
to mock your priest, who holds the place of our
Lord Jesus Christ, is a great sin and a great mis-
fortune for you. But tell me, my little boy, what
reason have you for mocking me thus ? "

In my examination of conscience, I had not fore-
seen that I should be obliged to give the reasons
for mocking the priest, and I was thunderstruck
"by his questions. I dared not answer, and I re-
mained for a long time dumb, from the shame that
overpowered me. But, with a harrassing persever-
ance, the priest insisted upon my telling why I had
mocked him ; assuring me that I would be damned
If I did not speak the whole truth. So I decided to
speak, and said : " I mocked you for several things. "

THE PKlEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 185

" What made you first mock me?" asked the
priest.

" I laughed at you because you lisp: among the
pupils of the school, and other people, it often hap-
pens that we imitate your preaching to laugh at
yrou," I answered.

' ' For what other reason did you laugh at me, my
little boy?"

For a long time I was silent. Every time I
opened my mouth to speak, my courage failed me.
But the priest continued to urge me ; I said at last :
4 ' It is rumored in town that you love the girls :
that you visit the Misses Richards almost every
night; and this made us laugh often."

The poor priest was evidently overwhelmed by
my answer, and ceased questioning me on that sub-
ject. Changing the conversation, he said: "What
are your other sins?"

I began to confess them according to the order
in which they came to my memory. But the feel-
ing of shame which overpowered me, in repeating
all my sins to that man, was a thousand times
greater than that of having offended God. In
reality, this feeling of human shame, which ab-
sorbed my thoughts, nay, my whole being, left no
room for any religious feeling at all, and I am
certain that this is the case with more than the

186 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND OONEE&SIONA^

greater part of those who confess their sins to ft^
priest.

When I had confessed all the sins I could re-
member, the priest began to put to me the strang-
est questions about matters upon which my pen

must be silent .1 replied, " Father, I do not

understand what you ask me."

" I question you," he answered, " on the sins of
the sixth commandment of God (seventh in the
Bible). Do confess all, my little boy, for you will
go to hell, if, through your fault, you omit any-
thing."

And thereupon he dragged my thoughts into-
regions of iniquity which, thanks be to God, had
hitherto been quite unknown to me.

I answered him again, "I do not understand
you," or " I have never done those wicked things."

Then, skilfully shifting to some secondary mat-
ters, he would soon slyly and cunningly come back to
his favorite subject, namely, sins of licentiousness.

His questions were so unclean that I blushed,
and felt nauseated with disgust and shame. More
than once, I had been, to my great regret, in the
company of bad boys, but not one of them had
offended my moral nature so much as this priest
had done. Not one of them had ever approached
the shadow of the things from which that man tore

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 187

the veil, and which he placed before the eyes of
my soul. In vain I told him that I was not guilty
of those things; that I did not even understand
what he asked me; but he would not let me off.

Like a vulture bent upon tearing the poor de-
fenceless bird that falls into its claws, that cruel
priest seemed determined to ruin and defile my
heart.

At last he asked me a question in a form of ex-
pression so bad, that I was really pained and put
beside myself. I felt as if I had received the shock
from an electric battery: a feeling of horror made
me shudder. I was filled with such indignation
that, speaking loud enough to be heard by many,
I told him: " Sir, I am very wicked, but I was
never guilty of what you mention to me: please
don't ask me any more of those qustions, which
will teach me more wickedness than I ever knew."

The remainder of my confession was short. . The
stern rebuke I had given him had evidently made
the priest blush, if it had not frightened him. He
stopped short, and gave me some very good advice,
which might have done me good, if the deep
wounds which his questions had inflicted upon my
soul, had not so absorbed my thoughts as to pre-
vent me giving attention to what he said. He-
gave me a short penance and dismissed me.

188 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

I left the confessional irritated and confused.
From the shame of what I had just heard, I dared
not raise my eyes from the ground. I went into
a corner of the church to do my penance, that is to
recite the prayers which he had indicated to me.
I remained for a long time in the church. I had
need of calm, after the terrible trial through
which I had just passed. But vainly I sought for
rest. The shameful questions which had just been
asked me; the new world of iniquity into which I
had been introduced; the impure phantoms by
which my childish head had been defiled, confused
and troubled my mind so much, that I began to
weep bitterly.

I left the church only when forced to do so by
the shades of night, and came back to my uncle's
house with a feeling of shame and uneasiness, as
if I had done a bad action and feared lest I should
be detected. My trouble was much increased when
my uncle jestingly said: " Now that you have been
to confess, you will be a good boy. But if you are
not a better boy, you will be a more learned one,
if your confessor has taught you what mine did
when I confessed for the first time."

I blushed and remained silent. My aunt said:

"You must feel happy, now thai, you have made
your confession: do you not?"

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 18$

I gave an evasive answer, but could not entirely
conceal the confusion which overwhelmed me. I
went to bed early; but I could hardly sleep.

I thought I was the only boy whom the priest
had asked these polluting questions; but great was
my confusion, when, on going to school the next
day, I learned that my companions had not been
happier than I had been, The only difference was
that, instead of being grieved as I was, they
laughed at it.

"Did the priest ask you this and that," they
would demand, laughing boisterously; I refused
to reply, and said: " Are you not ashamed to speak
of these things? "

"Ah! ah! how scrupulous you are," continued
they, " if it is not a sin for the priest to speak to us
on these matters, how can it be a sin for us to
laugh at it." I felt confounded, not knowing what
to answer. But my confusion increased not a lit-
tle when, soon after, I perceived that the young
girls of the school had not been less polluted or
scandalized than the boys. Although keeping at
a sufficient distance from us to prevent us from un-
derstanding everything they had to say on their
confessional experience, those girls were sufficient-
ly near to let us hear many things which it would
have been better for us not to know. Some of

190 THE PRIEST, TV MAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

them seemed thoughtful, sad, and shameful; but
some of them laughed heartily at what they had
leared in the confessional-box.

I was very indignant against the priest; and
thought in myself that he was a very wicked man
for having put to us such repelling questions. But
I was wrong. That priest was honest; he was
only doing his duty, as I have known since, when
studying the theologians of Rome. The Rev. Mr.
Beaubien was a real gentleman; and if he had
been free to follow the dictates of his honest con-
science, it is my strong conviction, he would never
have sullied our young hearts with such impure
ideas. But what has the honest conscience of a
priest to do in the confessional, except to be silent
and dumb; the priest of Rome is an automaton,
tied to the feet of the Pope by an iron chain. He
can move, go right or left, up or down; he can
think and act, but only at the bidding of the in-
fallible god of Rome. The priest knows the will
of his modern divinity only through his approved
emissaries, ambassadors, and theologians. With
shame on my brow, and bitter tears of regret flow-
ing just now, on my cheeks, I confess that I have
had myself to learn by heart those damning ques-
tions, and put them to the young and the old, who
like me, were fed with the diabolical doctrines of

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSION 4L. 191

the Church of Rome, in reference to auricular con-
fession.

Some time after, some people waylaid and
whipped that very same priest, when, during a
very dark night he was coming back from visiting
his fair young penitents, the Misses Richards. And
the next day, the conspirators having met at the
house of Dr. Stephen Tache, to give a report of
what they had done to the half secret society to
which they belonged, I was invited by my young
friend Louis Cazault* to conceal myself with him,
in an adjoining room, where we could hear every-
thing without being seen. I find in the old manu-
scripts of "my young years' recollections" the
following address of Mr. Dubord, one of the prin-
cipal merchants of St. Thomas:

" Mr. President, — I was not among those who
gave to the priest the expression of the public feel-
ings with the eloquent voice of the whip; but I
wish I had been; I would heartily have co-operated
to give that so well-deserved lesson to the father
confessors of Canada; and let me give you my rea-
sons for that.

"My child, who is hardly twelve years old, went
to confess, as did the other girls of the village,

*He died many years after when at the head of the Laval
University.

192 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

some time ago. It was against my will. I know
by my own experience, that of all actions, confes-
sion is the most degrading of a person's life. I
can imagine nothing so well calculated to destroy
forever one's self-respect, as the modern invention
of the confessional. Now, what is a person with-
out self-respect? Especially a woman? Is not all
forever lost without this?

" In the confessional, everything is corruption
of the lowest sfrade. There the srirls' thoughts,
lips, hearts and souls are forever polluted. Do I
need to prove you this! No! for though you have
long since given up auricular confession, as below
the dignity of man, you have not forgotten the
lessons of corruption which you have received
from it. Those lessons have remained on your
souls as the scars left by the red-hot iron upon the
brow of the slave, to be a perpetual witness of his
slavery, to be a perpetual witness of his shame and
servitude.

"The confessional-box is the place where our
wives and daughters learn things which would
make the most degraded women of our cities blush!

"Why are all Koman Catholic nations inferior
to nations belonging to Protestantism? Only in
the confessional can the solution i>f that problem
be found. And why are Koman Catholic nation*

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 193

degraded in proportion to their submission to their
priests? It is because the more often the indiv-
iduals composing those nations go to confess, the
more rapidly they sink in the sphere of intelli-
gence and morality. A terrible example of the
auricular confession depravity has just occurred in
my own family. *

"As I have said a moment ago, I was against
my own daughter going to confession, but her poor
mother, wio is under the control of the priest,
earnestly wanted her to go. Not to have a disa-
greeable scene in my house, I had to yield to the
tears of my wife.

"On the following day of the confession, they
believed I was atfsent, but I was in my office, with
the door sufficiently opened to hear everything
which could be said by my wife and the child.
And the following conversation took place :

" 'What makes you so thoughtful and sad, my
dear Lucy, since you went to confess ? It seems to
me you should feel happier since you had the priv-
ilege of confessing your sins.'

" My child answered not a word; she remained
absolutely silent.

"After two or three minutes of silence, I heard
the mother saying : ' Why do you weep, my dear
Lucy ? are you sick ? '

1&-1 -*tfE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

*' JSut no answer yet from the child!"

* ' You may well suppose that I was all attention :
I had my secret suspicions about the dreadful mys-
tery which had taken place. My heart throbbed
with uneasiness and anger.

" After a short silence, my wife spoke again to
her child, but with sufficient firmness to decide her
to answer at last. In a trembling voice, she said :

"'Oh! dear mamma, if you knew what the
priest has asked me, and what he said to me when I
confessed, you would perhaps be as sad as I am.'

u ' But what can he have said to you ? He is a
holy man, you must have misunderstood him, if
you think that he has said anything wrong.'

" My child threw herself in her mother's arms,
and answered with a voice, half suffocated with her
sobs : ' Do not ask me to tell you what the priest
has said — it is so shameful that I cannot repeat it —
his words have stuck to my heart as the leech put
to the arm of my little friend, the other day. '

'•' 'What does the priest think of me, for having
put me such questions ? '

"My wife answered: 'I will go to the priest
and will teach him a lesson. I have noticed my-
self that he goes too far when questioning old peo-
ple, but I had the hope he was more prudent with
children. I ask of you, however, never to speak

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 195

<of this to anybody, especially let not your poor
father know anything about it, for he has little
enough of religion already, and this would leave
him without any at all.'

"I could not refrain myself any longer : I ab-
ruptly entered the parlor. My daughter threw
herself into my arms; my wife screamed with ter-
ror, and almost fell into a swoon. I said to my
child : ' If you love me, put your hand on my
heart, and promise never to go again to confess.
Fear God, my child, love Him, and walk in His
presence. For His eyes see you everywhere. Re-
member that He is always ready to forgive and
bless you every time you turn your heart to Him.
Never place yourself again at the feet of a priest,
to be defiled and degraded. '

"This my daughter promised to me.

" When my wife had recovered from her surprise,
I said to her: —

" ' Madame, it is long since the priest became
every tiling, and your husband nothing, to you !
There is a hidden and terrible power which governs
you ; it is the power of the priest ; this you have
often denied, but it can not be denied any longer ;
the Providence of God has decided to-day that this
power should be destroyed forever in my house ; I
want to be the only ruler of my family ; from this

196 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

moment, the power of the priest over you is forevet
abolished. Whenever you go and take your heart
and your secrets to the feet of the priest, be so kind
as not to come back any more into my house as my
wife.' V

This is one of the thousands of specimens of the
peace of conscience brought to the soul through
auricular confession. If it were my intention to
publish a treatise on this subject, I could give
many similar instances, but as I only desire to write
a short chapter, I will adduce but one other fact to
show the awful deception practised by the Church
of Rome, when she invites persons to come to con-
fession, under the pretext that peace to the soul
will be the reward of their obedience. Let us hear
the testimony of another living and unimpeachable
witness, about this peace of the soul, before, dur-
ing, and after auricular confession. In her remark-
able book, " Personal Experience of Roman Cath-
olicism," Miss Eliza Richardson writes (pages 34:
and 35) :— *

" Thus I silenced my foolish quibbling, and went
on to test of a convert's fervor and sincerity in con-

* This Miss Richardson is a well-known Protestant lady, in
England, who turned Romanist,, became a nun, and returned
to her Protestant church, after five years' personal experience
of Popery. She is still living as an unimpeachable witness ot
the depravity of auricular confession.

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 197

■fession. And, here, was assuredly a fresh source
of pain and disquiet, and one not so easily van-
quished. The theory had appeared, as a whole,
fair and rational ; but the reality, in some of its
details, was terrible!

"Divested, for the public gaze, of its darkest
ingredients, and dressed up, in their theological
works, in false and meretricious pretensions to truth
and purity, it exhibited a dogma only calculated
to exact a beneficial influence on mankind, and to
prove a source of morality and usefulness. But
<oh, as with all ideals, how unlike was the actual?

"Here, however, I may remark, in passing, the
effect produced upon my mind by the first sight of
the older editions of ' the Garden of the Soul.' I
remember the stumbling-block it was to me ; my
•sense of womanly delicacy was shocked. It was a
dark page in my experience when I first knelt at
the feet of a mortal man to confess what should
have been poured into the ear of God alone. I

cannot dwell upon this Though I

believe my confessor was, on the whole, as guarded
as his manners were kind, at some things I was
strangely startled, utterly confounded.

"The purity of min^ and delicacy in which I
had been nurtured, had not prepared me for such
an ordeal ; and my own sincerity, and dread of

198 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

committing a sacrilege, tended to augment tW
painfullness of the occasion. One circumstance,
especially, I will recall, which my fettered con-
science persuaded me I was obliged to name. My
distress and terror, doubtless, made me less explicit
than I otherwise might have been. The question-
ing, however, it elicited, and the ideas supplied by
it, outraged my feelings to such an extent, that,
forgetting all respect for my confessor, and care-
less, even, at the moment, whether I received
absolution or not, I hastily exclaimed, ' I cannot
say a word more,' while the thought rushed into*
my mind, ' all is true that their enemies say of
them.' Here, however, prudence dictated to my
questioner to put the matter no further; and the
kind and almost respectful tone he immediately
assumed, went far towards effacing an impression
so injurious. On rising from my knees, when I
should have gladly fled to any distance rather than
have encountered his gaze, he addressed me in the
most familiar manner on different subjects, and de-
tained me some time in talking. What share I
took in the conversation I never knew, and all that
I remember, was by burning cheeks, and inability
to raise my eyes from the ground.

" Here I would not be supposed to be intention-
Ally casting a stigma upon an individual. Nor am

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 199

I throwing unqualified blame upon the priesthood.
It is the system which is at fault, a system which
teaches that things, even at the remembrance oi
which degraded humanity must blush in the pres-
ence of heaven and its angels, should be laid open,,
dwelt upon, and exposed in detail, to the sullied
ears of a corrupt and fallen fellow-mortal, who, of
like passions with the penitent at his feet, is thereby
exposed to temptations the most dark and danger-
ous. But what shall we say of woman \ Draw a
veil! Oh purity, modesty! and every womanly
feeling! a veil as oblivion, over the fearfully dan-
gerous experience thou art called to pass through Vr
(Pages 37 and 38.)

uAh! there are things which cannot be re-
corded ! facts too startling, and at the same time
too delicately intricate, to admit a public portrayal,
to meet the public gaze ; but the cheek can blush
in secret at the true images which memory evokes,,
and the oppressed mind shrinks back in horror
from the dark shadows which have saddened and
overwhelmed it. I appeal to converts, to converts
of the gentler sex, and ask them, fearlessly ask
them, what was the first impression made on your
minds and feelings by the confessional? I do not
ask how subsequent familiarization has weakened
the effects ; but when acquaintance was first made

200 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

with it, how were you affected by it ? I was ot
the impure, the already defiled, for to such * is
sadly susceptible of being made a darker source of
guilt and shame; I appeal to the pure minded and
delicate, the pure in heart and sentiment. Was not
your first impression one of inexpressible dread
and bewilderment, followed by a sense of humilia-
tion and degradation not easily to be defined or
supported?" (Page 39.) "The memory of that
time [first auricular confession] will ever be painful
and abhorrent to me ; though subsequent experi-
ence has thrown even that far into the background.
It was my initiatory lesson upon subjects which
ought never to enter the imagination of girlhood :
my introduction into a region which ought never to
be approached by the guileless and the pure."
(Page 61.) " One or two individuals (Roman
Catholics) soon formed a close intimacy with me,
and discoursed with a freedom and plainness I had
never before encountered. My acquaintances, how-
ever, had been brought up in convents, or familiar
with them for years, and I could not gainsay their*
statement.

" I was reluctant to believe more than I had ex-
perienced. The proof, however, was destined to

come in no dubious shape at no distant day

A dark and sullied page of experience was fast

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 201

opening upon me ; but so unaccustomed was the
eye which scanned it, that I could scarcely at all,
.at once, believe in its truth ! And it was of hypoc-
risy so hateful, of sacrilege so terrible, and abuse
so gross of all things pure and holy, and in the
person of one bound by his vows, his position, and
every law of his Church, as well as of God, to set
a high example, that, for a time, all confidence in
the very existence of sincerity and goodness was
in danger of being shaken ; sacraments, deemed
the most sacred, were profaned ; vows disregarded,
vaunted secrecy of the confessional covertly in-
fringed, and its sanctity abused to an unhallowed
purpose ; while even private visitation was con-
verted into a channel for temptation, and made the
occasion of unholy freedom of words and manner.
So ran the account of evil, and a dire account it
was. By it all serious thoughts of religion were
well nigh extinguished. The influence was fearful
and polluting, the whirl of excitement inexpressi-
ble ; I cannot enter into minute particulars here,
every sense of feminine delicacy and womanly feel-
ing shrink from such a task. This much, however,
I can say, that I, in conjunction with two other
young friends, took a journey to a confessor, an
inmate of a religious house, who lived at some
distance, to lay the affair before him, thinking that

202 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

he would take some remedial measures adequate to
the urgency of the case. He heard our united
statements, expressed great indignation, and at
once commended us each to write and detail the
circumstances of the case to the Bishop of the dis-
Irict. This we did, but of course never heard the
*esult. The reminiscences of these dreary and
wretched months seem now like some hideous and
guilty dream. It was actual familiarization with,
unholiest things! " (Page 63.)

" The Romish religion teaches that if you omit
to name anything in confession, however repugnant
or revolting to purity, which you even doubt having
committed, your subsequent confessions are thus
rendered null and sacrilegious ; whilst if also incul-
cates that sins of thought should be confessed in
order that the confessor may judge of their mortal
or venial character. What sort of a chain this
links around the strictly conscientious, I would
attempt to portray if I could. But it must have
been worn to understand its torturing character !
Suffice it to say that, for months past, according to
this standard, I had not made a good confession at
all! And now, filled with remorse for my past
sacrilegious sinfulness, I resolved on making a new
general confession to the religieux alluded to. But
this confessor's scrupulosity exceeded everything I

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 203

had hitherto encountered. He told me some things
were mortal sins which I had never before imag*
ined could be such, and thus threwT so many fetters
around my conscience, that a host of anxieties for
my first general confession was awakened withii?
me. I had no resource, then, but to re-make that,
and thus I afresh entered on the bitter path I had
deemed I should never have occasion again td
tread. But if my first confession had lacerated my
feelings, what was it to this one ? Words have no
power, language has no expression to characterise
the emotion that marked it !

"The difficulty I felt in making a full and ex-
plicit avowal of all that distressed me, furnished
my confessor with a plea for his assistance in the
questioning department, and fain would I conceal-
much of what passed then as a foul blot on my
memory. I soon found that he made mortal sins
of what my first confessor had professed to treat
but lightly, and he did not scruple to say that I
had never yet made a good confession at all. My
ideas, therefore, became more complicated and
confused as I proceeded, until, at length, I began
to feel doubtful of ever accomplishing my task in
any degree satisfactorily ; and my mind and mem-
ory were positively racked to recall every iota of"
every kind, real or imaginary, that might if omitted,.

204 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

hereafter be occasion of uneasiness. Things, here-
tofore held comparatively trifling, were recounted,
and pronounced damnable sins ; and as, day after
day, I knelt at the feet of that man, answering
questions and listening to admonitions calculated
to bow my very soul to the dust, I felt as though I
should hardly be able to raise my head again! "
(Page 63.)

This is the peace which flows from auricular con-
fession ! I solemnly declare that, except in a few
cases, in which the confidence of the penitents is
bordering on idiocy, or in which they have been
transformed into immoral brutes, nine tenths of the
multitudes who go to confess are obliged to recount
some such desolate narrative as that of Miss Rich-
ardson, when they are sufficiently honest to say the
truth.

The most fanatical apostles of auricular confes-
sion cannot deny that the examination of con-
science, which must precede confession, is a most
difficult task, a task which, instead of filling the
mind with peace, fills it with anxiety and serious
fears. Is it then only after confession that they
promise such peace ? But they know very well

that this promise is also a cruel deception for

to make a good confession the penitent has to re-
late not only all his bad actions, but all his bad

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 205-

thoughts arid desires, their number and various
aggravating circumstances. But have they found a
single one of their penitents who was certain to
have remembered all the thoughts, the desires, all
the criminal aspirations of the poor sinful heart \
They are well aware that to count the thoughts of
the mind for days and weeks gone by, and to nar-
rate those thoughts accurately at a subsequent
period, are just as easy as to weigh and count the
clouds which have passed over the sun in a three
days' storm, a month after that storm is over. It
is simply impossible — absurd ! This has never
been, this will never be done. But there is no
possible peace so long as the penitent is not sure
that he has remembered, counted, and confessed
every past sinful thought, word and deed. It is,
then, impossible, yes ! it is morally and physically
impossible for a soul to find peace through auricu-
lar confession. If the law which says to every
sinner: " You are bound, under pain of eternal
damnation, to remember all your bad thoughts and
confess them to the best of your memory," were
not so evidently a satanic invention, it ought to be
put among the most infamous ideas which have
ever come out of the brain of fallen man. For who
can remember and count the thoughts of a week, of
■a day, nay, of an hour of this sinful life ?

'206- ftiijfc PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Wii^re js the traveler who has crossed the
swampy forests of America, in the three months of
warm weather, who could tell the number of mos-
quitoes which have bitten him and drawn the blood
from the veins ? What should that traveler think
of the man who, seriously, would tell him "You
must prepare yourself to die, if you do not tell me,
to the best of your memory, how many times you
have been bitten by the mosquitoes the last three
summer months, when you crossed the swampy
lands along the shores of the Mississippi and Mis-
souri rivers ? " Would he not suspect that his mer-
ciless inquirer had escaped from a lunatic asylum ?

But it would be much more easy for that traveler
to say how many times he has suffered from the
bitings of the mosquitoes, than for the poor sinner to
count the bad thoughts which have passed through
his sinful heart, through any period of his life.

Though the penitent is told that he must confess
his thoughts only according to his best recollection,
— he will neve?", never know if he has done his best
efforts to remember everything : he will constantly
fear lest he has not done his best to count and con*
fess them correctly

Every honest priest, if he speak the truth, will,
at once, admit that his most intelligent and pious
penitents, particularly among women, are con-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 207

stantly tortured by the fear of having omitted to
confess some sinful deeds or thoughts. Many of
them, after having already made several general
confessions, are constantly urged by the pricking
of their conscience, to begin afresh, in the fear that
their first confessions had some serious defects.
Those past confessions, instead of being a source of
spiritual joy and peace, are, on the contrary, like
so many Damocle's swords, day and night sus-
pended over their heads, filling their souls with the
terrors of an eternal death. Sometimes, the terror-
stricken consciences of those honest and pious
women tell them that they were not sufficiently
contrite ; at another time, they reproach them for
not having spoken sufficiently plain, on some things
fitter to make them blush.

On many occasions, too, it has happened that
sins which one confessor had declared to be venial,
and which had long ceased to be confessed, another
more scrupulous than the first, would declare to be
damnable. Every confessor, thus knows well that
he proffers what is flagrantly false, every time he dis-
misses his penitents after confession, with the sal-
utation : " Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee."

But it is a mistake to say that the soul does not
find peace in auricular confession ; in many cases,
peace is found. And if the reader desires to learn

208 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

something of that peace, let him go to the grave-
yard, open the tombs, and peep into the sepulchres.
What awful silence ! What profound quiet ! What
terrible and frightful peace ! ■ You hear not oven
the motion of the worms that creep in, and the
worms that creep out, as they feast upon the dead
carcass. Such is the peace of the confessional !
The soul, the intelligence, the honor, the self-
respect, the conscience, are, there, sacrificed.
There, they must die ! Yes, the confessional is
the very tomb of human conscience, a sepulchre of
human honesty, dignity, and liberty ; the grave-
yard of the human soul ! By its means, man, whom
God hath made in his own image, is converted into
the likeness of the beast that perishes; women,
created by God to be the glory ahd helpmate of
man, is transformed into the vile and trembling
slave of the priest. In the confessional, man and
woman attain to the highest degree of Popish per-
fection ; they become as dry sticks, as dead branches,
as silent corpses in the hands of their confessors.
Their spirits are destroyed, their consciences are
stiff, their souls are ruined.

This is the supreme and perfect result achieved,
in its highest victories, by the Church of Rome.

There is, verily, peace to be found in auricular
confession — yes, but it is the peace of the grave!

CHAPTEE IX.

THE DOGMA OF AURICULAR CONFESSION A SACRI-
LEGIOUS IMPOSTURE.

BOTH Roman Catholics and Protestants have
fallen into very strange errors in reference to*
the words of Christ : " Whosesoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins
ye retain, they are retained." (St. John xx. 23.)

The first have seen in this text the inalienable
attributes of God of forgiving and retaining sins
transferred to sinful men ; the second have most
unwisely granted their position, even while at-
tempting to refute their errors.

A little more attention to the translation of the
3d and 6th verses of chapter xiii. of Leviticus by
the Septuagint would have prevented the former
from falling into their sacrilegious errors, and would
have saved the latter from wasting so much time
in refuting errors which refute themselves.

Many believe that the Septuagint Bible was the
.Bible that was generally read and used by Jesus

210 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Christ and the Hebrew people in our Saviour's
days. Its language was possibly the one spoken
at times by Christ and understood by his hearers.
When addressing his apostles and disciples on their
duties towards the spiritual lepers to whom they
were to preach the ways of salvation, Christ con-
stantly followed the very expression of the Septua-
gint. It was the foundation of his ^doctrine and
the testimonial of his divine mission to which he
constantly appealed : the book which was the
greatest treasure of the nation.

From the beginning to the end of the Old and
the New Testaments, the bodily leprosy, with
which the Jewish priest had to deal, is presented as
the figure of the spiritual leprosy, sin, the penalty
of which our Saviour had taken upon himself, that
we might be saved by his death. That spiritual
leprosy was the very thing for the cleansing of
which he had come to this world — for which he
lived, suffered, and died. Yes, the bodily leprosy
with which the priests of the Jews had to deal, was
the figure of the sins which Christ was to take
away by shedding his blood, and with which his
disciples were to deal till the end of the world.

When speaking of the duties of the Hebrew
priests towards the leper, our modern translations
say: (Lev. xiii. v. 6,) " They will pronounce him

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 211

clean," or (v. 3) "They will pronounce him un-
clean. "

But this action of the priests was expressed in
a very different way by the Septuagint Bible, used
by Christ and the people of his time. Instead of
saying, "The priest shall pronounce the leper
clean," as we read in our Bible, the Septuagint
version says, "The priest shall clean (Jkaih&rei), or
shall unclean (mianei) the leper."

No one had ever been so foolish, among the
Jews, as to believe that because their Bible said
clean (Jcatharei), their priests had the miraculous
and supernatural power of taking away and caring
the leprosy : and we nowhere see that the Jewish
priests ever had the audacity to try to persuade the
people that they had ever received any supernatu-
ral and divine power to "cleanse" the leprosy,
because their God, through the Bible, had said of
them : " They will cleanse the leper." Both priest
and people were sufficiently intelligent and honest
to understand and acknowledge that, by that ex-
pression, it was only meant that the priest had the
legal right to see if the leprosy was gone or not,
they had only to look at certain marks indicated by
God himself, through Moses, to know whether or
not God had cured the leper before he presented
himself to his priest. The leper, cured by the

212 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

mercy and power of God alone, before presenting
himself to the priest, was only declared to be clean
by that priest. Thus the priest was said, by the
Bible, to "clean" the leper, or the leprosy ; — and
in the opposite case to u unclean." (Septuagintr
Leviticus xiii. v. 3, 6.)

Now, let us put what God has said, through
Moses, to the priests of the old law, in reference to
the bodily leprosy, face to face with what God has
said, through his Son Jesus, to his apostles and his
whole church, in reference to the spiritual leprosy
from which Christ has delivered us on the cross.

Septuagint Bible, Levit. xiii. New Testament, John xx. 23.

"And the Priest shall look
on the plague, in the skin of
the flesh, and when the hair
in the plague is turned white,
and the plague in sight be
deeper than the skin of his
flesh, it is a plague of leprosy;
and the priest shall look on
him and unclean him (mi-
anei).

"And the Priest shall look
on him again the seventh day,
and if the plague is somewhat
dark and does not spread on
the skin, the Priest shall clean
him (Jcatharei) : and he shall
wash his clothes and bb
clean " (katharos).

" Whosesoever sins ye* re-
mit, they are remitted unto
them; and whosesoever sins
ye retain they are retained."

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 213

The analogy of the diseases with which the Ile-
>rew priests and the iibciples of Christ had to deal,
is striking : so the analogy of the expressions pre-
scribing their respective duties is also striking.

When God said to the priests of the Old Law,
''You shall clean the leper," and he shall be
" cleaned," or "you shall unclean the leper," and
he shall be "uncleaned," he only gave the legal
power to see if there were any signs or indications
by which they could say that God had cured the
leper before he presented himself to the priest. So,
when Christ said to his apostles and his whole
church, " Whosesover sins ye shall forgive, shall be
forgiven unto them," he only gave them the author-
ity to say when the spiritual lepers, the sinners,
had reconciled themselves to God, and received
their pardon from him and him alone, previous to
the coming to the apostles.

It is true that the priests of the Old Law had
regulations from God, through Moses, which they
had to follow, by which they could see and say
whether or not the leprosy was gone.

If the plague spread not on the skin the

priest shall clean him but if the priest see that

the scab spread on the skin, it is leprosy : he shall
"unclean" him. (Septuagint, Levit. xiii. 3, 6.)

Should any be convinced that Christ spoke the

214: THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Hebrew of that day and not the Greek, and \tts&k
the Old Testament in Hebrew, we have only to say
that the Hebrew is precisely the same as the
Greek — the priest is said to clean or unclean as the
case may be, precisely as in the Septuagint.

So Christ had given to his apostles and his whole
church equally, infallible rules and marks to deter-
mine whether or not the spiritual leprosy was gone,
that they might clean the leper and tell him,

I clean thee,

or
I unclean thee.

I forgive thy sins,

or
I retain thy sins.

I would have, indeed, many passages of the Old;
and [New Testaments to copy, were it my intention
to reproduce all the marks given by God himself,
through his prophets, or by Christ and apostles,
that his ambassadors might know when they should
say to the sinner that he was delivered from his
iniquities. I will give only a few.

First: "And he said unto them, go ye into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature :

" He that belie veth and is baptised, shall be
saved : but he that belie veth not shall be damned. '*
(Mark xvi. 15, 16.)

What a strange want of memory in the Saviour
of the World ! He has entirely forgotten that
" auricular confession," besides faith and baptism;
are necessary to be saved ! To those who believe

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 215

and are baptised, the apostles and the church are
authorized by Christ to say :

"You are saved ! your sins are forgiven : I clean
you!"

Second: " And when ye come into a house, sa-
lute it.

"And if the house be worthy, let your peace
come upon it : but if it be not worthy, let your
peace return to you.

"And whosoever shall not'rec2ive you nor hear
your words, when ye dapart out of that house or
city, shake off the dust of your feet.

" Verily, verily I say nnto you, it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in.
the day of Judgment, than for that city." (Matt.,
x. 12-15.)

Here, again, tne Great Physician tells his disci-
ples when the leprosy will be gone, the sins for-
given, the sinner purified. It is when the lepers,
the sinners, will have welcomed his messengers,.
heard and received their message. Not a word
about auricular confession : this great panacea of
the Pope was evidently ignored by Christ.

Third : "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly father will also forgive you, — but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither wiL your
Father forgive your trespasses." (Matt. vi. If 15.)

216 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Was it possible to give a more striking and sim-
ple rule to the apostles and the disciples that they
might know when they could say to a sinner :
** Thy sins are forgiven!" or, " thy sins are re-
tained ?" Here the double keys of heaven are
most solemnly and publicly given to every child of
Adam ! As sure as there is a God in heaven and
that Jesus died to save sinners, so it is sure that if
one forgives the trespasses of his neighbor for the
dear Saviour's sake, believing in him, his own sins
have been forgiven ! To the end of the world,
then, let the disciples of Christ say to the sinner,
"Thy sins are forgiven," not because you have
confessed your sins to me, but for Christ's sake ;
the evidence of which is that you have forgiven
those who had offended you.

Fourth: "And behold, a certain one stood up
and tempted nim, saying : Master, what shall I do
to inherit eternal life ?

" He said unto him : What is written in the
law ? how readest thou 1

""And he, answering, said: Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself.

" And he said unto him : Thou hast answered
right; this do and thou shalt live." (Lukex. 25-28.)

217

What a fine opportunity for the Saviour to speak
of "auricular confession" as a means given by
him to be saved ! But here again Christ forgets
that marvellous medicine of the Popes. Jesus,
speaking absolutely like the Protestants, bids his
messengers to proclaim pardon, forgiveness of sins,
not to those who confess their sins to a man, but to
those who love God and their neighbor. And so
will his true disciples and messengers do to the end
of the world !

Fifth : " And when he (the prodigal son) came to
himself, he said : I will arise and go to my father,
and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
against Heaven and before thee : and I am not wor-
thy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy
hired servants.

"And he arose and came to his father. But
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
him and had compassion, and ran, and he fell on
his neck and kissed him.

" And the son said, Father, I have sinned against
Heaven and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be
called thy son.

" But the father said to his servants : Bring
forth the best robe, and put it on him : put a ring
on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither
the fatted calf. For this my son was dead, and he is

218 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

alive again, he was lost and lie is found/' (Luke
xv. 17-24.)

Apostles and disciples of Christ, wherever you
will hear, on this land of sin and misery, the cry of
the Prodigal Son: "I will arise and go to my
Father," every time you see him, not at your feet,
but at the feet of his trcre Father, crying, " Father,
I have sinned against thee," unite your hymns of
joy to the joyful songs of the angels of God ; re-
peat into the ears of that redeemed sinner the sen-
tence just fallen from the lips of the Lamb, whose
blood cleanses us from all our sins ; say to him,
" Thy sins are forgiven."

Sixth: u Come unto me all ye who labor, and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls ; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. "
(Matt. xi. 28-30.)

Though these words were pronounced more than
1800 years ago, they were pronounced this very
morning : they come at every hour of day and
night from the lips and the heart of Christ to every
one of us sinners. It is just now that Jesus says
to every sinner, "Come to me and I will give ye
rest." Christ has never said and he will never say
to any sinner, " Go to my priests and they will

THE PRIEST, WuAlAfl AND CONFESSIONAL. 219^

give you rest." But he has said, "Come to me,
and I will give you rest."

Let the apostles and disciples of the Saviour,
then, proclaim peace, pardon, and rest, not to the
sinners who come to confess to them all their sins,
but to those who go to Christ, and him alone, for
peace, pardon and rest. For " Come to me," from
Jesus' lips, has never meant — it will never mean —
" Go and confess to the priests."

Christ would never have said: "My yoke is*
easy and my burden light" if he had instituted
auricular confession. For the world has never-
seen a yoke so heavy, humiliating, and degrading,
as auricular confession.

Seventh: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14.)

Did Almighty God require any auricular confes-
sion in the wilderness, from the sinners, when he-
ordered Moses to lift up the serpent ? No ! Neith-
er did Christ speak of auricular confession as a con-
dition of salvation to those who look to Him when
He dies on the Cross to pay their debts A free-
pardon was offered to the Israelites who looked to
the uplifted serpent. A free pardon is offered b^r
Christ crucified to all those who look to Him with-

"220 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

faith, repentance, and love. To such sinners the
ministers of Christ, to the end of the world, are
-authorized to say : " Your sins are forgiven " — we
" clean your leprosy."

Eighth : "For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life.

" For God sent not his Son to condemn the
world, but that the world, through him, might be
saved.

"He that belie veth in him is not condemned;
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.

"And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For
every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be re-
proved.

" But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God." (John iii. 16-21.)

In the religion of Rome, it is only through auric-
ular confession that the sinner can be reconciled to
•God ; it is only after he has heard a most detailed

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 221

confession of all the thoughts, desires, and actions
of the guilty one that he can tell him : " Thy sins
are forgiven." But in the religion of the Gospel,
the reconciliation of the sinner with his God is ab-
solutely and entirely the work of Christ. That
marvellous forgiveness is a free gift offered not for
any outward act of the sinner : nothing is required
from him but faith, repentance, and love. These
are marks by which the leprosy is known to be
cured and the sins forgiven. To all those who have
these marks, the ambassadors of Christ are author-
ized to say, "Your sins are forgiven, " we "clean"
you.

Ninth : "The publican, standing afar off, would
not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying: " God! be merci-
ful to me a sinner !

"I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified." (Luke xviii. 13-14.) Yes! justified!
and without auricular confession !

Ministers and disciples of Christ, when you see
the repenting sinner smiting his breast and crying:
"Oh, God, have mercy upon me, a sinner !" shut
your ears to the deceptive words of Rome, or its
ugly tail the Ritualists, who tell you to force that
redeemed sinner to make to you a special confes-
sion of all his sins to get his pardon. But go to

222 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

him and deliver the message of love, peace, and
mercy, which you received from Christ: " Thy
sins are forgiven ! I ' clean ' thee !"

Tenth : "And one of the malefactors which were
hanged, railed on him, saying : " If thou be Christ
save thyself and us.

" But the other, answering, rebuked him, say-
ing: Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in
the same condemnation ?

" And we indeed justly, for we receive the due
reward of our deeds : but this man hath done notli -
ing amiss.

"And he said unto Jesus: Remember me when
thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him : Verily I say unto thee, to-day, shalt thou be
with me in Paradise. (Luke xxiii. 39-43.)

Yes, in the Paradise or Kingdom of Christ, with-
out auricular confession ! From Calvary, when his
hands are nailed to the cross, and his blood is
poured out, Christ protests against the great im-
posture of auricular confession. Jesus will be, to
the end of the world, what he was, there, on the
cross: the sinner's friend; always ready to hear
and pardon those who invoke his name and trust
in him.

Disciples of the gospel, wherever you hear the
-cry of the repenting sinner to the crucified Saviour :

WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 223

"Remember me when thou comest to thy King-
dom,'5 go and give the assurance to that penitent
and redeemed child of Adam, that " his sins are
forgiven :" — " clean the leper."

Eleventh: "Let the wicked forsake his ways,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him
return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon
him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly par-
don." (Isa. lv. 7, 8.)

" Wash you and make you clean, put away the

/?vils of your doings from before mine eyes : cease

\o do evil, learn to do well ; seek judgment, re-

\eve the oppressed ; judge the fatherless, and

^.lead for the widow.

" Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they will
be as white as snow ; though they be red like crim-
son, they shall be as wool." (Isa. i, 16-18.)

Here are the landmarks of the mercy of God,
put by his own Almighty hands ! Who will dare
to remove them in order to put others in their
place ? lias ever Christ touched these landmarks ?
lias he ever intimated that anything but faith, repen-
tance, and love, with their blessed fruits, were requir-
ed from the sinned to secure his pardon ? No — never.

Have the prophets of the Old Testament or the
apostles of the New, ever said a word about " aur-

224 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

icular confession," as a condition for pardon ? ~No
— never.

What does David say? "I confess my sins
unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I
said, I will confess my transgression unto the
Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."
(Psalm xxxii. 5.)

What does the apostle John say? "If we say
that we have fellowship with him, and walk in dark-
ness, we lie, and do not the truth.

" But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from
sin ;

" If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.

" If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all un-
righteousness." (1 John i. 6-9.)

This is the language of the prophets and apos*
ties. This is the language of the Old and the New
Testament. It is to God and him alone that the
sinner is requested to confess his sins, It is from
God and him alone that he can expect his pardon.

The apostle Paul writes fifteen epistles, in which
he speaks of all the duties imposed upon human
conscience by the laws of God and the prescriptions

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 225

of the Gospel of Christ. A thousand times be
speaks to sinners, and tells them how they may be
reconciled to God. But does he say a word about
auricular confession ? No — not one !

The apostles Peter, John, Jude, address six let-
ters to the different churches, in which they state,
with the greatest detail, what the different classes
of sinners have to do to be saved. But again, not;
a single word comes from them about auricular
confession.

St. James says : " Confess your faults one to
another." But this is so evidently the repetition
of what the Saviour had said about the way of
reconciliation between those who had offended cue
another, and it is so far from the dogma of a secret:
confession to the priest that the most zealous sup-
porters of auricular confession have not dared to
mention that text in favor of their modern invention..

But if we look in vain in the Old and New Testa*
ments for a word in favor of auricular confession
as a dogma, will it be possible to find that dogma
in the records of the first thousand years of Chris*-
tianity ? No ! for the more one studies the re-
cords of the Christian Church during those first ten
centuries, the more he will be convinced that aur-
icular confession is a miserable imposture of tlie
darkest days of the world and the church..

226 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

And so it is with the lives of several of the
early fathers of the church. Not a word is said of
their confessing their sins to anyone, though a
thousand things are said of them which are of a far
less interesting character.

So it is with the life of St. Mary, the Egyptian.
The minute history of her life, her public scandals,
her conversion, long prayers and fastings in soli-
tude, the detailed history of her last days and of
her death, all these we have ; but not a single word
is said of her confessing to anyone. It is evident
that she lived and died without ever having thought
of going to confess.

The deacon Pontius wrote also the life of St.
Cyprian, who lived in the third century ; but he
does not say a word of his ever having gone to con-
fession, or having heard the confession of anyone.
More than that, we learn from this reliable histor-
ian that Cyprian was excommunicated by the Pope
of Rome, called Stephen, and that he died without
having ever asked from anyone absolution from
that excommunication ; a thing which has not
seemingly prevented him from going to Heaven,
since the infallible Popes of Rome, who succeeded
Stephen, have assured us that he is a saint.

Gregory of Xyssa has given ns the life of St.
Gregory, of Neo-Csesarea, of the third century, and

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 227

•of St. Basil, of the fourth century. But neither
speak of their having gone to confess, or having
heard the secret and auricular confession of anyone.
It is thus evident thot those two great and good
men, with all the Christians of their times, lived
and died without ever knowing anything about the
dogma of auricular confession.

We have the interesting life of St. Ambrose, of
the fourth century, by Paulinus ; and from that
T^ook it is evident, as two and two make fonr, that
St. Ambrose never went to confess.

The history of St. Martin, of Tours, of the fourth
century, by Severus Sulpicius, of the fifth century,
is another monument left by antiquity to prove that
there was no dogma of auricular confession in those
days ; for St. Martin has evidently lived and died
without ever going to confess.

Pallas and Theoderet have left us the history of
the life, sufferings, and death of St. Chrysostom,
Bishop of Constantinople, who died at the begin-
ning of the fifth century, and both are absolutely
mute about that dogma. No fact is more evident,
by what they say, than that holy and eloquent
bishop lived and died also without ever thinking of
going to confess.

No man has ever more perfectly entered into the
details of a Christian life, when writing on that

228 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

subject, than the learned and eloquent St. Jerome,,
of the fifth century. Many of his admirable let-
ters are written to the priests of his day, and to-
several Christian ladies and virgins, who had
requested him to give them some good advice
about the best way to lead a Christian life. His
letters, which form five volumes, are most interest-
ing monuments of the manners, habits, views,
morality, practical and dogmatical faith of the first
ceuturies of the church ; they are a most unan
swerable evidence that auricular confession, as a
dogma, had then no existence, and is quite a mod-
ern invention. Would it be possible that Jerome
had forgotten to give some advices or rules about
auricular confession, to the priests of his time who
asked his council about the best way to fulfil their
ministerial duties, if it had been one of their duties
to hear the confessions of the people ? But we
challenge the most devoted modern priest of Eome
to find a single line in all the letters of St. Jerome
in favor of auricular confession. In his admirable
letter to the Priest Nepotianus, on the life of
priests, vol. II., p. 203, when speaking of the rela-
tions of priests with women, he says : " Solus cum
sola, secreto et absque arbitrio, vel teste, non sedeas.
Si fainiliarius est aliquid loquendum, habet nutri-
cem majorem domus, virginem, viduam, vel mari-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 229

tatam; non est tarn inhumana ut nullum prseter te
habeat cui se audeat credere."

"Never sit in secret, alone, in a retired place,
with a female who is alone with you. If she has
any particular thing to tell you, let her take the
female attendant of the house, a young girl, a
widow, or a married woman. She cannot be so
ignorant of the rules of human life as to expect to
have you as the only one to whom she can trust
those things."

It would be easy to cite a great number of other
remarkable passages where Jerome showed himself
the most determined and implacable opponent of
those secret tete-d-tete between a priest and a
female, which, under the plausible pretext of mu-
tual advice and spiritual consolation, are generally
nothing but bottomless pits of infamy and perdi-
tion for both. But this is enough.

We have also the admirable life of St. Paulina,
written by St. Jerome. And, though in it, he gives
us every imaginable detail of her life when young,
married, and widow ; though he tells us even how
her bed was composed of the simplest and rudest
materials ; he has not a word about her ever hav-
ing gone to confess. Jerome speaks of the
acquaintances of St. Paulina, and gives their
names ; he enters into the minutest details of her

230 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

long voyages, her charities, her foundations of
monasteries for men and women, her temptations,
human frailties, heroic virtues, her macerations,
and her holy death ; but he has not a word to say
about the frequent or oracular confessions of St.
Paulina; not a word about her wisdom in the
choice of a prudent and holy (?) confessor.

He tells us that after her death, her body was
carried to her grave on the shoulders of bishops
and priests, as a token of their profound -respect
for the saint. But he never says that any of those
priests sat there, in a dark corner with her, and
forced her to reveal to their ears the secret history
of all the thoughts, desires, and human frailties of
her long and eventful life. Jerome is an unim-
peachable witness that his saintly and noble friend,
St. Paulina, lived and died without having ever
thought of going to confess.

Possidius has left us the interesting life of
St. Augustine, of the fifth century ; and, again,
it is in vain that we look for the place and time
when that celebrated Bishop of Hippo went to
confess, or heard the secret confessions of his
people.

More than that, St. Augustine has written a
most admirable book called: " Confessions," in.
which he gives us the history of his life. With.

THE PRIEST, "WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 231

that marvellous book in hand we follow him step
by step, wherever he goes ; we attend with him
those celebrated schools, where his faith and mo-
rality were so sadly wrecked ; he takes us with him
into the garden where, wavering between heaven
and hell, bathed in tears, he goes under the fig-tree'
and cries uOh Lord! how long will I remain in
my iniquities!" Our soul thrills with emotions,
with his soul, when we hear with him, the sweet
and mysterious voice: "Tolle! lege!" take and
read. We run with him to the place where he has-
left his gospel book ; with a trembling hand, we
open it and we read : " Let us walk honestly as in
the day. . . .put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. . . ."
(Eom. xiii. 13, 14.)

That incomparable book of St. Augustine makes
us weep and shout with joy with him ; it initiates
lis into all his most secret actions, to all his sor-
rows, anxieties, and joys ; it reveals and unveils
his whole life. It tells us where he goes, with
whom he sins, and with whom he praises God ; it
makes us pray, sing, and bless the Lord with him.
Is it possible that Augustine could have been to
confess without telling us when, where, and to-
whom he made that auricular confession ? Could
lie have received the absolution and pardon of his
sins from his confessor, without making us partak-

232 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

crs of his joys, and requesting us to bless that con-
fessor with him ?

JBut it is in vain that you look in that book for a
single word about auricular confession. That book
is an unimpeachable witness that both Augustine
and his saintly mother, Monica, whom it mentions
io often, lived and died without ever having been
4jq confess. That book may be called the most
crushing evidence to prove that "the dogma of
auricular confession " is a modern imposture.

From the beginning to the end of that book, we
see that Augustine believed and said that God
alone could forgive the sins of men, and that it was
to liim alone that men had to confess in order to be
pardoned. If he writes his confession, it is only
that the world might know how God had been mer-
ciful to him, and that they might help him to praise
and bless his merciful heavenly father. In the
teith book of his Confessions, Chapter III., Augus-
$iae protests against the idea that men could do
anything to cure the spiritual leper, or forgive the
sins of their fellow-men ; here is his eloquent pro-
test.: "Quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus ut audi-
ani eonfessiones, meas, quasi ipsi sanaturi sint
languores meas ? Curiosum genus ad cognescend-
am vitam alienam ; desidiosum ad corrigend-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 233

" What have I to do with men that they should
liear my confessions, as if they were able to heal my
infirmities? The human race is very curious to
know another person's life, but very lazy to cor-
rect it."

Before Augustine had built up that sublime and
imperishable monument against auricular confes-
sion, St. John Chrysostom had raised his eloquent
voice against it in his homily on the 50th Psalm,
where, speaking in the name of the church, he said :
u¥e do not request you to go to confess your sins
to any of your fellow-men, but only to God !

Nestorius, of the fourth century, the predecessor
of John Chrysostom, had, by a public defence,
which the best Roman Catholic historians have
liad to acknowledge, solemnly forbidden the prac-
tice of auricular confession. For, just as there has
always been thieves, drunkards, and malefactors in
the world, so there has always been men and
women who, under the pretext of opening their
minds to each other for mutual comfort and edifi-
cation, were giving themselves to every kind of
iniquity and lust. The celebrated Chrysostom was
only giving the sanction of his authority to what
his predecessor had done, when, thundering against
the newly-born monster, he said to the christians
of his time, " We do not ask you to go and confess

234 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

jour iniquities to a sinful man for pardon — but only
to God." (Homily on 50th Psalm.)

Auricular confession originated with the early
heretics, especially with Marcion. Bellarmin
speaks of it as something to be practiced. But let
us hear what the contemporary writers have to say
on the question.

" Certain women were in the habit of going to
the heretic Marcion to confess their sins to him.
But, as he was smitten with their beauty, and they
loved him also, they abandoned themselves to sin
with him."

Listen now to what St. Basil in his commentary
on Ps. xxxvii, says of confession :

"I have not come before the world to make a
confession with my lips. But I close my eyes, and
confess my sins in the secret of my heart. Before
thee, O God, I pour out my sighs, and thou alone
art the witness. My groans are within my soul.
There is no need of many words to confess : sorrow
and regret are the best confession. Yes, the lamen-
tations of the soul, which thou art pleased to hear,
are the best confession."

Chrysostom, in his homily, De Paenitentia, vol.
IY., col. 901, has the following: "You need no
witnesses of your confession. Secretly acknowledge
your sins, and let God alone hear you."

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 23£

In his homily Y., De incomprehensibili Dei
natura, vol. I., he says: "Therefore, I beseech
you, always confess your sins to God! I, in no
way, ask you to confess them to me. To God alona
should you expose the wounds of your soul, and
from him alone expect the cure. Go to him, then,
and you shall not be cast off, but healed. For,
before you utter a single word, God knows your
prayer. ' '

In his commentary on Heb. XII., horn. XXXI.,
vol. XII., p. 289, he further says : " Let us not be
content with calling ourselves sinners. But let us
examine and number our sins. And then I do not
tell you to go and confess them, according to the
caprice of some ; but I will say to you, with the
prophet : ' Confess your sins before God, acknowl-
edge your iniquities at the feet of your Judge ;
pray in your heart and your mind, if not with your
tongue, and you shall be pardoned.' "

In his homily on Ps. I., vol. Y., p. 589, the
same Chrysostoin says : " Confess your sins every
day in prayer. Why should you hesitate to do so?
I do not tell you to go and confess to a man, sin-
ner as you are, and who might despise you if he
knew your faults. But confess them to God, who<
can forgive them to you."

In his admirable homily IY., De Lazaro, vol. I.,.

236 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

p. 757, he exclaims: " Why, tell me, should you
be ashamed to confess your sins ? Do we compel
you to reveal them to a man, who might, one day,
throw them into your face ? Are you commanded
to confess them to one of your equals, who could
publish them and ruin you ? What we ask of you
is simply to show the sores of your soul to your
Lord and Master, who is also your friend, your
guardian, and physician."

In a small work of Chrysostom's, entitled, u Cate-
chesis ad illuminandos," vol. II., p. 210, we read
these remarkable words : " What we should most
■admire is not that God forgives our sins, but that
he does not disclose them to anyone, nor wishes us
to do so. What he demands of us is to confess our
transgressions to him alone to obtain pardon."

St. Augustine, in his beautiful homily on the
31st Ps., says: u I shall confess my sins to God,
and He will pardon all my iniquities. And such
confession is not made with the lips, but with the
heart only. I had hardly opened my mouth to con-
fess my sins when they were pardoned, for God had
already heard the voice of my heart."

In the edition of the Fathers by Migne, vol. 67,
pp. 614, 615, we read : "About the year 390, the
office of penitentiary was abolished in the church in
consequence of a great scandal given by a woman

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 23T

who publicly accused herself of having committed
a crime against chastity with a deacon."

I know that the advocates of auricular confession
present to their silly dupes several passages of the
Holy Fathers, where it is said that sinners were
going to that priest or that bishop to confess their
sins : but this is a most dishonest way of present-
ing that fact — for it is evident to all those who are
a little acquainted with the church history of those
times, that these referred only to the public confes-
sions for public transgressions through the office
of the penitentiary.

The office of the penitentiary was this : — In every
large city, a priest or minister was specially ap-
pointed to preside over the church meetings where
the members who had committed public sins were
obliged to confess then publicly before the assem-
bly, in order to be reinstated in the privileges of
their membership : and that minister had the charge
of reading or pronouncing the sentence of pardon
granted by the church to the guilty ones before
they could be admitted again to communion. This
was perfectly in accordance with what St. Paul had
done with regard to the incestuous one of Corinth ;
that scandalous sinner who had cast obloquy on the
Christian name, but who, after confessing and
weeping over his sins before the church, obtained

238 THE T±liJLol, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Lis pardon — not from a priest in whose ears lie had
whispered all the details of his incestuous inter-
course, but from the whole church assembled. St.
Paul gladly approves the Church of Corinth in thus
absolving, and receiving again in their midst, a
wandering but repenting brother.

"When the Holy Fathers of the first centuries
speak of "confession" they invariably understand
"public confessions" and not auricular confes-
sion.

There is as much difference between such public
confessions and auricular confessions, as there is
between heaven and hell, between God and his
great enemy, Satan.

Public confession, then, dates from the time of
the apostles, and is still practiced in Protestant
churches of our day. But auricular confession was
unknown by the first disciples of Christ ; as it is
rejected to-day, with horror, by all the true fol-
lowers of the Son of God.

Erasmus, one of the most learned Poman Cath-
olics who opposed the Reformation in the sixteenth
century, so admirably begun by Luther and Calvin,
fearlessly and honestly makes the following declar-
ation in his treatise, De Psenitentia, Dis. 5 : " This
institution of penance [auricular confession] began
rather of some tradition of the Old or New Testa-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 239

ment. But our divines, not advisedly considering
what the old doctors do say, are deceived, that
which they say of general and open confession, they
wrest, by and by, to this secret and privy kind of
confession."

It is a public fact, which no learned Roman Cath-
olic has ever denied, that auricular confession be-
came a dogma and obligatory practice of the church
only at the Council of Lateran in the year 1215,
under the Pope Innocent III. Not a single trace
of auricular confession, as a dogma, can be found
before that year.

Thus, it has taken more than twelve hundred
years of efforts for Satan to bring out this master-
piece of his inventions to conquer the world and
destroy the souls of men.

Little by little, that imposture had crept into the
world, just as the shadows of a stormy night creep
without anyone being able to note the moment
when the first rays of light gave way before the
dark clouds. We know very well when the sun
was shining, we know when it was very dark all
over the world ; but no one can tell positively when
the first rays of light faded away. So saith the
Lord :

" The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field.

240 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

" But while men slept, his enemy came and
sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

" But when the blade was sprung up, and brought
forth fruit, there appeared the tares also.

" So the servants of the householder came and
said unto him : Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field ? From whence then hath it tares ?

"He said unto them: An enemy hath done
this." (Matt. xiii. 24-28.)

Yes, the Good Master tells us that the enemy
sowed those tares in his field during the night —
when men were sleeping.

But he does not tell us precisely the hour of the
night when the enemy cast the tares among the
wheat.

However, if anyone likes to know how fearfully
dark was the night which covered the " Kingdom,"
and how cruel, implacable, and savage was the
enemy who sowed the tares, let him read the tes-
timony of the most devoted and learned cardinals
whom Rome has ever had, Baronius, Annals,
Anno 900 :

"It is evident that one can scarcely believe
what unworthy, base, execrable, and abominable
things the holy Apostolic See, which is the pivot
upon which the whole Catholic Church revolves,
was forced to endure, when princes of the age,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 241

though Christians, arrogated to themselves the
election of the Roman Pontiffs. Alas, the shame !
alas, the grief! What monsters, horrible to be-
hold, were then intruded on the Holy See ! What
evils ensued ! What tragedies they perpetrated !
With what pollutions was this See, though itself
without spot, then stained ! With what corrup-
tions infected ! With tchat filthiness defiled ! And
by these things blackened with perpetual infamy !
(Baronius, Annals, Anno, 900.)

" Est plane, ut vix aliquis credat, immo, nee vix
quidem sit crediturus, nisi suis inspiciat ipse oculis,
manibusque contractat, quam indigna, quamque
turpia atque defurmia, execranda insuper et abom-
inanda sit coacta pati sacrosancta apostolica sedes,
in cujus cardine universa Ecclesia catholica vertitur,
cumprincipes sseculi hujus, quantumlibet christiani,
hac tarn en ex parte dicendi tyrrani ssevissimi, ar-
rogaverunt sibi, tirannice, electionem Romanorum
pontificum. Quot tunc ab eis, proh pudor ! pro
dolor ! in eamdem sedem, angelis reverandam, visu
horrencla intrusa sunt monstra ? Quot ex eis oborta
sunt mala, consummata^ tragedian ! Quibus tunc
ipsam sine macula et sine ruga contigit aspergi
sordibus, purtoribus infici, in quinati spurcitiis, ex
bisque perpetual infamia denigrari !"

CHAPTEK X.

GOD COMPELS THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONFESS THE
ABOMINATIONS OF AURICULAR CONFESSION.

THE Priests of Pome resort to various means in
order to deceive the people on the immorality
resulting from auricular confession. One of their
favorite stratagems is to quote some disconnected
passages from theologians, recommending caution
on the part of the priest, in questioning his peni-
tents on delicate subjects, should he see or appre-
hend any danger for the latter of being shocked
by his questions. True, there are such prudent
theologians, who seem to realize more than others
the real danger of the priest in confession. But
those wise counselors resemble very much a father
who would allow his child to put his fingers in the
fire, while advising him to be cautious lest he
should burn those fingers. There is just as much
wisdom in the one case as there would be in the
other. What would you say of a brutal parent
casting a young, weak and inexperienced boy among

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 243

wild beasts, with the foolish and cruel expectation
that his prudence might save him from injury ?

Such theologians may be perfectly honest in giv-
ing such advice, although it is anything but wise or
reasonable. But those are far from being honest
or true who contend that the Church of Koine, in
commanding everyone to confess all his sins to the
priests, has made an exception in favor of sins
against chastity. This is only so much dust thrown
in the eyes of Protestants and ignorant people, to
prevent them from seeiag through the frightful
mysteries of confession.

When the Council of Lateran decided that every
adult, of either sex, should confess all their sins to
a priest, at least once a year, there was no excep-
tions made for any special class of sins, not even
for those committed against modesty or purity.
And when the Council of Trent ratified or renewed
the previous decision, no exception was made,
either, of the sins in question. They were expected
and ordered to be confessed, as all other sins.

The law of both Councils is still unrepealed and
binding for all sins, without any exception. It is
imperative, absolute ; and every good Catholic,
man or woman, must submit to it by confessing all
his or her sins, at least once a year.

I have in my hand Butler's Catechism, approved

24A THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

by several bishops of Quebec. On page 62, it
reads, "that all penitents should examine them-
selves on the capital sins, and confess them all,
without exception, under penalty of eternal damna-
tion/'

The celebrated controversial catechism of Kd.
Stephen Keenan, approved by all the bishops of
Ireland, positively says (page 186): " The peni-
tent nfust confess all his sins."

Therefore, the young and timid girl, the chaste
and modest woman, must think of shameful deeds
and fill their minds with impure ideas, in order to
confess to an unmarried man whatever they may be
guilty of, however repugnant may be to them such
confession, or dangerous to the priest who is bound
to hear and even demand it. INo one is exempt
from the loathsome, and often polluting task. Both
priest and penitent are required and compelled to
go through the fiery ordeal of contamination and
shame. They are bound, on every particular, the
one to ask, and the other to answer, under penalty
of eternal damnation.

Such is the rigorous, inflexible law of the Church
of Kome with regard to confession. It is taught
not only in works of theology or from the pulpit,
but in prayer-books and various other religious pub-
lications. It is so deeply impressed in the minds

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 24:0

of Romanists as to have become a part of their re-
ligion. Such is the law which the priest himself
has to obey, and which puts his penitents at his
own discretion.

But there are husbands with a jealous disposition,
who would little fancy the idea of bachelors confess-
ing their wives, if they knew exactly what ques-
tions they have to answer in confession. There are
fathers and mothers who don't like much to see
their daughters alone with a man, behind a curtain,
;and who would certainly tremble for their honor
and virtue if they knew all the abominable myster-
ies of confession. It is necessary, therefore, to keep
these people, as much as possible, in ignorance,
and pee vent light from reaching that empire of
darkness, the confessional. . In that view, confessors
are advised to be cautious " on those matters;" to
"broach these questions in a sort of covert way,
and with the greatest reserve." For it is very de-
sirable " not to shock modesty, neither frighten
the penitent nor grieve her. Sins, however, must
be confessed."

Such is the prudent advice given to the confessor
on certain occasions. In the hands or under the
command of Liguori, Father Gury, Scavani, or
other casuists, the priest is a sort of general, sent
■ during the night, to storm a citadel or a strong

246 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

position, having for order to operate cautiously, and
before daylight. His mission is one of darkness
and violence, and cruelty ; above all, it is a mission
of supreme cunning, for when the Pope commands,,
the priest, as his loyal soldier, must be ready to
obey ; but always with a mask or blind before him,
to conceal his object. However, many a time, after
the place has been captured by dint of strategy and
secrecy, the poor soldier is left, badly wounded and
completely disabled, on the battle-field. He has
paid dearly for his victory ; but the conquered cit-
adel has also received an injury from which it may
never recover. The crafty priest has gained his
point : he has succeeded in persuading his lady
penitent that there was no impropriety, that it was
even necessary for them to have a parley on things
that made her blush a few moments before. She
is soon so well convinced, that she would swear
that there is nothing wrong in confession. Truly
this is a fulfillment of the word s : ' ' Aby ssus aby ssum
invocat," an abyss calls for another abyss.

Have the Romish theologians — Gury, Scavani,
Liguori, etc. — ever been honest enough, in their
works on confession, to say that the Most Holy
God could never command or require woman to
degrade and pollute herself and the priest in pouring
into the ear of a frail and sinful mortal, words unfit

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 247

even for an angel ? No ; they were very careful
not to say so ; for, from that very moment, their
shameless lies would have been exposed ; the stu-
pendous, but weak structure of auricular confession,
would fall to the ground, with sad havoc and ruin
to its un holders. Men and women would open
their eyes, and see its weakness and fallacy. " If
God," they might say, "can forgive our most
grievous sins against modesty, without confessing
them, He can and will certainly do the same with
those of less gravity ; therefore there is no necess-
ity or occasion for us to confess to a priest."

But those shrewd casuists knew too well that, by-
such frank declaration, they would soon lose their
hold on Catholic populations, especially on womenr
by whom, through confession, the}' rule the world.
They much prefer to keep their grip on benighted
minds, frightened consciences, and trembling souls.
No wonder, then, that they fully endorse and con-
firm the decisions of the councils of Lateran and
Trent, ordering C1 that all sins must be confessed
such as God knows them." No wonder that they
try their best or worst to overcome the natural re-
pugnance of women for making such confessions,
and to conceal the terrible dangers for the priests
in hearing the same.

However, God, in his infinite mercy, and for the

248 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

sake of truth, lias compelled the Church of Home
to acknowledge the moral dangers and corrupting
tendencies of auricular confession. In His eternal
wisdom, He knew that Roman Catholics would
close their ears to whatever might be said by the
disciples of gospel truth, of the demoralising influ-
ence of that institution ; that they would even reply
with insult and fallacy to the words of truth kindly
addressed to them, just as the Jews of old returned
hatred and insult to the good Saviour who was
bringing them the glad tidings of a free salvation.
He knew that Romish devotees, led astray by their
priests, would call the apostles of truth, liars, se-
ducers, possessed of the devil, as Christ was con-
stantly called a demoniac, an impostor, and finally
put to death by His false accusers.

That great God, as compassionate now as He
was then, for the poor benighted and deluded souls,
has wrought a real miracle to open the eyes of the
Roman Catholics, and compel them, as it were, to
believe us, when we say, on His authority, that
auricular confession was invented by Satan to ruin
both the priest and his female penitents, for time
and eternity. For, what we would never have
dared to say of ourself to the Roman Catholics with
regard to what frequently happens between their
priests and their wives and daughters, either during

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 249

or after confession, God has constrained the Church
of Rome to acknowledge herself, in revealing things
that would have seemed incredible, had they come
simply from our mouth or our pen. In this, as in
other instances, that apostate Church has unwit-
tingly been the mouth-piece of God for the accom-
plishment of His great and merciful ends.

Listen to the questions that the Church of Rome,
through her theologians, puts to every priest after
he has heard the confession of your wives or
danghters :

1. "JVonne inter audiendas confessiones quas-
dam propositi questioned circa sextum decalogi
prececeptum cum intentione libidinosa f (Miroir
duClerge; p. 582.)

" While hearing confessions, have I not asked
questions on sins against the sixth (seventh in the
Decalogue) commandment, with the intention of
satisfying my evil passions? "

Such is the man, O mothers and daughters, to
whom you dare to unbosom the most secret, as well
as the most shameful actions You kneel down at
his feet and whisper in his ear your most intimate
thoughts and desires, and your most polluting
deeds ; because your church, by dint of cunning
and sophistry, has succeeded in persuading you
that there was no impropriety or danger in doing

250 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

so ; that the man whom you choose for your spirit-
ual guide and confident, could never be tempted or
tainted by such foul recitals. But that same
Church, through some mysterious providence, is
made to acknowledge, in her own books, her own
lies. In spite of herself, she admits that there is
real danger in confession, both for the woman and
for the priest ; that willingly or otherwise, and
sometimes both unawares, they lay for each other
dangerous snares. The Church of Rome, as if she
had an evil conscience for allowing her priest to
hold such close and secret converse with a woman,
on such delicate subjects, keeps, as it were, a
watchful eye on him, while the poor misguided
woman is pouring in his ear the filthy burden of
her soul ; and as soon as she is off, questions the
priest as to the parity of his motives, the honesty
of his intentions in putting the requisite questions.
u Have you not," she asks him immediately, " un-
der the pretence of helping that woman in her con-
fession, put to her certain questions simply in order
to gratify your lust, and with the object of satisfy-
ing your evil propensities? "

2. ' iJVonne munus audiendi confessiones suscepi,
aid peregi ex prava incontinent ice appettentia f "
(Idem, p. 582.) " Have I not repaired to the con-
fessional and heard confessions with the intention

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 251

of gratifying my evil passions?" (Miroir du
Clerge, p. 582.)

O ye women! who tremble like slaves at the
feet of the priests, you admire the patience and
charity of those good (?) priests, who are willing to
spend so many long and tedious hours in hearing
the confession of your secret sins; and you hardly
know how to express your gratitude for so much
kindness and charity. But, hush, listen to the
voice of God speaking to the conscience of the
priest, through the Church of Home !

"Have you not," she asks him, "heard the
confession of women simply to foster or gratify the
grovelling passions of your fallen nature and cor-
rupt heart ? ' '

Please notice, it is not I, or the enemies of your
religion, who put to your priests the above ques-
tions ; it is God Himself, who, in His pity and
compassion for you, compels your own Church to
ask such questions ; that your eyes may be opened,
and that you may be rescued from all the danger-
ous obscenities and the humiliating and degrading
slavery of auricular confession. It is God's will to
deliver you from such bondage and degradation.
In His tender mercies lie has provided means to.
drag you out of that cesspool, called confession ;
to break the chains which bind you to the feet of

252 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

a miserable and blasphemous sinner called con-
fessor, who, under the pretence of being able to
pardon your sins, usurps the place of your Saviour
and your God ! For while you are whispering your
sins in his ear, God says to him through his Church,
in tones loud enough to be heard: " In hearing the
confession of these women, are you not actuated by
lust, spurred by evil passions ? "

Is this not sufficient to warn you of the danger of
auricular confession? Can you now, with any
sense of safety or propriety, come to that priest,
for whom your very confession may be a snare, a
cause of fall or fearful temptation ? Can you, with
a particle of honor or modesty, willingly expose
yourself to the impure desires of your confessors 1
Can you, with any sort of womanly dignity, con-
sent to entrust that man with your inmost thoughts
and desires, your most humiliating and secret
actions, when you know from your own Church's
lips, that that man may not have any higher ob-
ject in listening to your confession than a lustful
curiosity, or a sinful desire of exciting his evil
passions ?

3. "JVonne ex auditis in confessione occasionem
swnpsi pcenitentes utriusque sexus ad peccandum
•sollicitandi?" (Idem, p. 582.")

" Have I not availed myself of what I heard in

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 25o

confession to induce my penitents of both sexes to
commit sin ?*'

I would run a great risk of being treated with
the utmost contempt, should I dare to put to your
priests such a question. You would very likely
call me a scoundrel, for daring to question the hon-
esty and purity of such holy men. You would,
perhaps, go as far as to contend that it is utterly
impossible for them to be guilty of such sins as are
alluded to in the above question ; that never such
shameful deeds have been perpetrated through con-
fession. And you would, maybe, emphatically
deny that your confessor has ever said or done any-
thing that might lead you to sin or even commit
auy breach of propriety or modesty. You feel
perfectly safe on that score, and see no danger to
gpprehend.

Let me tell you, good ladies, that you are al-
together too confident, and thus you are kept in
the most fatal delusion. Your own Church, through
the merciful and warning voice of God speaking to
the conscience of your own theologians, tells you
that there is a real and imminent danger, where
you fancy yourself in perfect security. You may
never have suspected the clanger, but it is there,
within the walls of the confessional; nay, more, it
is lurking in your very hearts, and that of your

254 THE PRIEST, WOMAN, AND CONFESSIONAL.

confessor. He may hitherto have refrained from
tempting you; he may, at least, have kept within
the proper limits of outward morality or decency.
But nothing warrants you that he may not be
tempted ; and nothing could shield you from his
attempts on your virtue, should he give way to
temptation, as cases are not wanting to prove the
truth of my assertion. Ycu are sadly mistaken in
a false and dangerous security. You are, although
unawares, on the very brink of a precipice, where
so many have fallen through their blind confidence
in their own strength, or their confessor's prudence
and sanctity. Your own Church is very anxious
about your own safety; she trembles for your inno-
cence and purity. In her fear, she cautions the
priest to be watchful over his wicked passions and
human frailty. How dare you pretend to be
stronger and more holy than your confessor is in
the mind of your own Church ? Why should you
so wilfully imperil your chastity or modesty ?
Why expose yourself to danger, when it could be
so easily avoided ? How can you be so rash, so
devoid of common prudence and modesty as to
shamelessly put yourselves in a position to tempt
and be tempted, and thereby incur your temporal
and eternal perdition ?

4. " JVbnne extra tribunal, vel, in ipso confess-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 255

ionis actv,) aliuqia dixi aut egi cum intenticne dia-
holica has personas seducendi?" (Idem, idem).

"Have I not, either during or after confession,
done or said certain things with a diabolical inten-
tion of seducing my female patients? "

"What arch enemy of our holy religion is so
bold and impious as to put to our saintly priests
such an impudent and insulting question?" may
ask some of our Roman Catholic readers. It is
easy to answer. This great enemy of your relig-
ion is no less than a justly offended God, admon-
ishing and reproving your priests for exposing both
you and themselves to dangerous allurements and
seductions. It is His voice speaking to their con-
sciences, and warning them of the danger and cor-
ruption of auricular confession. It says to them :
Beware ! for ye might be tempted, as surely you
will be, to do or say something against honor and
purity.

Husbands and fathers ! who rightly value the
honor of your wives and daughters more than all
treasures, who consider it too precious a boon to be
exposed to the dangers of pollution, and who would
prefer to lose your life a thousand times, than to
see those you love most on earth fall in the snares
of the seducer, read once more and ponder what
your Church asks the priest, after he has heard

256 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

your wife and daughter in confession : " Have you
not, either during or after confession, done or said
something with a diabolical intention of seducing
your female patients ? "

If your priest remains deaf to these words ad-
dressed to his conscience, you cannot help giving
heed to them and understanding their full sig-
nificance. You cannot be easy and fear nothing
from that priest in those close interviews with
your wives and daughters, when his superiors and
your own Church tremble for him, and question
his purity and honesty. They see a great danger
for both the confessor and his penitent ; for they
know that confession has, many a time, been the pre-
tence of the cause of the most shameful seductions.

If there were no real danger for the chastity of
women, in confessing to a man their most secret
sins, do you believe that your popes and theolo-
gians would be so stupid as to acknowledge it, and
put to confessors questions that would be most
insulting and out of place, should there he no occa-
sion for them ?

Is it not presumption and folly, on your part, to
think that there is no danger, when the Church of
Home tells you, positively, that there is danger,
and uses the strongest terms in expressing her
uneasiness and apprehension ?

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 257

\/\iy ! your Church sees the most pressing rea-
sons to fear for the honor of your wives and daugh-
ters, as well as for the chastity of her priests ; and
still you remain unconcerned, indifferent to the
fearful peril to which they are exposed ! Are you
like the Jewish people of old, to whom it was said :
"Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye
indeed, but perceive not? " (Isa. vi. 9).

But if you see or suspect the danger you are
warned of; if the eye of your intelligence can
fathom the dreadful abyss where the dearest objects
of your heart are in danger of falling, then it be-
hoves you to keep them from the paths that lead
to the fearful chasm. Do not wait till it is too late*
when they are too near the precipice to be rescued..
You may think the danger to be far off, while it is
near at hand. Profit by the sad experience of so
'many victims of confession who have been irretriev-
ably lost, irrecoverably ruined for time and eternity.
The voice of your conscience, of honor, of God
Himself, tells you that it may soon become too
late to save them from destruction, through your
neglect and procrastination. While thanking God for
having preserved them from temptations that have
proved fatal to so many married or unmarried wom-
en, do not lose a single moment in taking the neces-
sary means to keep them from temptation and falls..

258 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Instead of allowing them to go and kneel at the
feet of a man to obtain the remission of their sins,
lead them to the dying Saviour's feet, the only
place where they can secure pardon and peace
everlasting. And why, after so many unfruitful
attempts, should they try any longer to wash them-
selves in a puddle, when the pure waters of eternal
life are offered them so freely through Christ Jesus,
their only Saviour and Mediator ?

Instead of seeking their pardon from a poor and
miserable sinner, weak and tempted as they are,
let them go to Christ, the only strong and perfect
man, the only hope and salvation of the world.

O poor deluded Catholic women ! listen no longer
to the deceiving words of the Church of Rome,
who has no pardon, no peace for you, but only
snares ; who offers you thraldom and shame in re-
turn for the confession of your sins ! But listen
rather to the invitations of your Saviour, who has
died on the cross, that you might be saved ; and
who, alone, can give rest to your weary souls.

Hearken to His words, when He says to you :
" Come unto Me, O ye heavily laden, crushed, as
it were, under the burden of your sins, and I shall
give you rest ... .1 am the Physician of your souls.
. . . .Those who are well hav^no need of a physi-
cian, but those who are sick .... Come, then, to-

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL, 259

IVTe, and ye shall be healed .... I have not sent

back nor lost any who have come to Me invoke

My name. . . .believe in Me repent. . . .love God,

and your neighbor as yourself, and you shall be
saved. . . .For all who believe in Me and call upon
My name, shall be saved. . . .When I am raised up
between heaven and earth, I shall draw every one
to Me...."

Oh, mothers and daughters, instead of going to
the priest for pardon and salvation, go to Jesus,
who is so pressingly inviting you ! and the more so
as you have more need of divine help and grace.
Even, if you are as great a sinner as Mary Magda-
lene, you can, like her, wash the feet of the Saviour
with the flowing tears of your repentance and your
love, and like her, receive the pardon of your sins.

Te Jesus, then, and to Him alone, go for the con-
fession and pardon of your sins ; for there, only,
you can find peace, light, and life for time and
eternity !

CHAPTEK XI.

AURICULAR CONFESSION IN AUSTRALIA, AMERICA,
AND FRANCE.

TTfE hope this chapter will be read with interest
' " and benefit everywhere ; it will be particu-
larly interesting to the people of Australia, Amer-
ica, and France. Let every one consider with
attention its solemn teachings ; they will see how
auricular confession is spreading, broadcast, the
seeds of an unspeakable corruption on every side,
all over the world. Let every one see how the
enemy is successfully at work, to destroy every ves-
tige of honesty and purity in the hearts and the
minds of the fair daughters of their countries.

Though I have been in Australia only a few
months, I have a collection of authentic and unde-
niable facts about the destruction of female virtue,
through the confessional, which would fill several
large volumes, and would strike the country with
horror, were it possible to publish them all. But

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 261

■■to keep myself within the limits of a short chapter,
[ will give only a few of the most public ones.

Not long ago, a young Irish lady, belonging to
one of the most respectable families of Ireland,
went to confess to a priest of Parramatta. But the
questions pat to her in the confessional, were of
such a bestial character ; the efforts made by this
priest to persuade his God-fearing and honest young
penitent, to consent to satisfy the infamous desires
of his corrupted heart, caused the young lady to
give up, immediately, the Church of Rome, and
break the fetters, by which she had been too long
bound to the feet of her would-be seducers. Let
the reader peruse her letter, which I have copied
from the Sydney {Australia) Gazette, of the 28th
July, 1839, and they will see how bravely, and
over her own signature, she not only accuses her
confessors of having most infamously scandalized
her by their questions, and tried to destroy in her
the last vestige of female modesty, but she declares
that many of her female friends had acknowledged
in her presence, that they had been dealt with in
the very same way, by their father confessors.

As that young lady was the niece of a well-known
Roman Catholic Bishop, and the near relation of
two priests, her public declaration made a pro-
found sensation in the public mind, and the Roman

262 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Catholic hierarchy keenly felt the blow. The facts--
were too plainly and brave' y given by that unim-
peachable witness to be denied. The only thing
to which those haughty and implacable enemies of
all that is true, holy and pure, in the world, had
recourse to, to defend their tottering power, and
keep their mask of honesty, what they have done
in all ages — u murder the honest young girl they
had not been able to silence." A few days after,
she was found bathed in her blood, and cruelly
bruised, at a short distance from Parramatta ; but
by the good providence of God, the would-be mur-
derers, sent by these priests, had failed to kill their
victim. She recovered from her wounds, and lived
many years more to proclaim before the public,
how the priests of Australia, as well as the priests
of the rest of the world, make use of auricular con-
fession to pollute the hearts, and damn the souls of
their penitents.

Here is the letter of that young, honest, and
brave lady : — -

The Confessional.
( To the Editors oJ\ the Sydney Gazette. )

While reading over, the other day, in the Syd-
ney Gazette, an account of the trial, which took
place at the Supreme Court, Tuesday, the 9th in-
stant, I was struck with inexpressible amazement;

THE TEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL, lM%

at the evidence of Dr. Polcling, Roman Carbolic
Bishop in this colony, and beg to enquire, through
the medium of jour paper, whether any difference
exists between the English and the Irish Roman
Catholic priests ? If there does not, arA if what
Dr. Folding says is really the case, J must have
been very unfairly dealt wfth indeed by most of
the priests, to whom I have confessed.

I know very well a Roman Catholic priest will
never say — "Pay me so much, and J will give you
absolution, " because that would be exposing the
craft ; but practice speaks louder than precept, and
I can say for myself (and I know hundred of oth-
ers, whe could say the same, if they dared), that I
have, times without number, paid the priest, before
I rose from my knees at confession, under the pre-
tence, as I will show, of getting znasses and prayers
said for the release of the souk of my deceased rel-
atives from purgatory.

I was taught to believe tl at masses were not
valid, unless I was from under a state of sin, or in
Ather words, in a state of grace. Consequently I
must be absolved, to make the masses effectual,
and all Roman Catholics know full well, that all
masses must be paid for^ before they will be said.
I have been told by a priest, a man of good educa-
tion, tiiat the more I gave, the better for my own

264 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

soul, and the souls of friends detained in purga-
tory, I was taught to believe that the Church
of Rome being infallible, and incapable of erring,
its doctrine and practices were the same through-
out the world ; of course I was the more staggered
on reading Dr. Polding's evidence. I think that
lie must be laboring under a great mistake, when
lie says, that it is strictly forbidden for a priest to
receive money in any way, or even if anything
should be given for charitable purposes, it is usual
to give it at another time, "but not customary,"
or else the priests in Ireland are outrageously
simonical. Perhaps Dr. Polding will inform me,
why I should, for so many years, and not only I,
but very many members of my poor deluded fam-
ily, pay the priest for relics — such as "the word of
the cross," uholy bones," "holy "vax," "holy
fire," "pieces of saints' garments/' from Rome
and other places; "holy clay," from the saints'
tombs; " the Agnus Dei, " "gospels," "scapula
ries," "blessed candle," "blessed salt," "St.
Francis' lard, &c.

But the time would fail me to repeat the abomi-
nable delusions I've paid for, und none of them
could, in any way, be reckoned among the priests'
traveling expenses, as the priests were resident in
the place ; but, perhaps, t >e^e Ire not some of the

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 265

acts which would bring a priest into degradation
with his own community, as Dr. Folding acknowl-
edges ; "there are certain acts to which, inherently
and incessantly, there are degradations and detes-
tation attached," but I humbly and heartily thank
God I have not, like Dr. Polding, to wait until I
have " been a Protestant,1' to know how such acts
must affect all who come within reach of their con-
tagion, as I do most selemnly protest, before God
and man, against refuges of lies and idolatrous
worship of the Popish Church, out of which it is
my earnest and constant prayer, that not only my
own relations, but all within her pale, may, through
the riches of God's grace, "come out from her and
be separate," as I have, so that after the way —
which they call heresy — "that they may yet be
bi ought to worship the God of their fathers."

But there is one thing asserted by Dr. Polding,
in his evidence, that needs particular explanations,
as it either casts a most blasphemous reflection on
the Holy Scriptures, or Dr. Polding must, if he
directs the attention of Protestants, for the rule of,
confession, in the Roman Catholic Church, to the
Holy Scriptures, be totally ignorant of that, which
the everyday student in Maynooth College is mas-
ter of ; and were it not that I esteem the glory of
God far beyond my own personal feelings of female

266 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

delicacy, I would shrink from acknowledging that
which I do now publicly, and with shame, that I
have carefully perused the translations of the ex-
tracts from "Dens' Theology," where alone the
true practice of the Roman Catholic confessional is
to be found, and publicly authorized by Dr. Mur-
ray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin,
and in the presence of my Maker, I solemnly
declare, that horrible and unspeakably vile as that
book is, I have had a hundred times more disgust-
ing questions put to me in the confessional, which
I was obliged to answer, having been told by my
confessor, " that being ashamed of answering him,
I was in a state of mortal sin." I have been often
obliged to perform severe penance, for repeating to
my companions, a portion of these horrible things,
out of confession, and comparing the questions put
to them (as far as decency would allow) with those
put to myself. What then will the Protestant
public think, when I again declare, and in the
same solemn manner, that their experience, and
especially the experience of one of them, was
worse than mine, acts following questions, which I
readily believe, from the specimens offered to
myself, one day, in the confessional.

If then, Dr. Polding will only prove to me,
'' from simply the Holy Scriptures, " any authority

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 267

for what I have stated, on the part of Roman Cath-
olic Confession, and which may be read by any one
who please, in Dens' Theology, — I promise to
return to the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church.
But I must leave this subject for the present, on
which I could relate what would fill a moderate
sized volume, and just speak a few words about
the sale of indulgences, of which Dr. Polding has
only read " in Protestant books." This also aston-
ished me, that a bishop in the Roman Catholic
Church, should know nothing of these things, and
I to have purchased one, which I did during the
cholera of 1832. At that time I heard the priest
of the parish publish from the altar, that the Pope
had granted an indulgence ; and, as the cholera
was raging in Dublin, every one was in dread of
its spreading over the whole country, and every
Roman Catholic that could crawl to the chapel, in
the parish where I lived, lost no time in coming.
Amongst them I well remember the priest showing
me an old woman, who, he said, had not been to
confession for fifty years, and who was in the act
of laying her money on the tray, when he pointed
her out. Indulgence was to be had, as the priest
had published, and I saw the old woman put her
money on the tray, where I put mine — she got her
seal of indulgence, and I got mine. "Will Dr..

268 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Polding have the kindness te tell me what the-
money was for ? In complying with the indulgence,
it was necessary also, to say so many prayers, such
as the "Jesus Psalter," &c., but those who could
not were to bring their beads to their priests, who
selected a proper number of prayers to be said on
them. Persons were to give at their own option,
what money they pleased, but nothing less than
silver was taken. I have seen trays on the vestry-
room table of the chapel, at that time, full of sil-
ver, bank-notes and gold, and I have also seen trays
for the same purpose, in Marlborough Street
Chapel, Dublin, upon the holy-water trough.

How many poor creatures have I known, who
were little short of starving, beg or borrow a six-
pence, to be at the chapel at that time ; but it
would be impossible almost for me, unless I was as
insensible as the images I was taught to worship,
especially my own guardian angel, St. Agnes, to
whom, with the Virgin Mary, I was taught to pay
more adoration than to God Himself, were I to
have remained unacquainted with the depth of
these, and many more wicked and abominable de-
vices, under the garb of the most self-denying
religion, having such a number of priests related
to me, a bishop for my uncle, and brought up
.amongst priests, friars, and nuns of almost every

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 269

order, from my birth, besides being a most zealous
devoted Roman Catholic myself, during my ignor-
ance of uthe truth, as it is in Jesus." But I am
content to leave all temporal good as I have already
done, in leaving wealthy relations and former
friends, only desiring from my heart, that, as \
have suffered the loss of all things, I may "be
more enabled to count them but dung, that I may
win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my
own righteousness (which I was taught to value in
the Roman Catholic Church, and which is of the
law), but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness, which is of God, by faith." I
know, sir, I have taken up too much of your paper,
but, should it please God, that the truths, the sol-
emn truths, which I have stated, be so blessed as
to rouse even one of my Roman Catholic fellow-
sinners to reflect, and break through that slavish
bondage, in which I know too well, they are kept,
and begin to think for him or herself, I am sure
you will feel doubly recompensed for the space you
have given this letter.

I am, sir, &c, &c,

Agnes Catherine Byrne.

25th July, 1839.

As some people, from a mistaken sense of charity,
may be tempted to believe that the priests of Rome,

270 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

in Australia, have reformed, and are not so cor-
rupted to-day as they were in 1839, let them read
the following document, which I take from the
Sydney Evening JVews, 19th November, 1878 : —
" One of the largest assemblages that were ever
seen inside the Protestant Hall in Castlereagh-
street, attended last night in response to an adver-
tisement announcing that a lady would deliver a
lecture on the subject — 'Mrs. Constable wrong,
and the ex-priest Chiniquy right, relative to auric-
ular confession ; proved by the lady's personal ex-
perience in Sydney.' The building was densely
packed in every part, and there was no standing
room. On the platform, around it, and in the
galleries were large numbers of ladies. Pastor
Allen then opened the proceedings by giving out
the hymn, ' Rock of ages cleft for me. ' Mr. W,
Neill (the banker) was voted to the chair. The
lady lecturer, Mrs. Margaret Ann Dillon, a middle-
aged lady, neatly dressed, was then introduced to
the audience. At first she appeared somewhat
tremulous and confused, which she explained was
mainly owing to the cruel and heartless letter she
had, that night, received, announcing the death of
her husband. She stated that she had not been
brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, but after
much consideration she had joined that Church,

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 271

because she had been led to believe it was the only
true Church. She had, for years after joining the
Church, faithfully attended to its duties, even to
auricular confession. It was not her intention to
insult the Roman Catholics that she had thus pub-
licly come forward, but to refute the allegations of
Mrs. Constable, and show that the ex-priest Chini-
quy's statements were true. Nothing but her duty
to God would have caused her to come before them
in this public manner. It was her first appearance
in public ; therefore, they must allow for her short-
comings ; but she would speak truthfully and fear-
lessly. Her address would have reference entirely
to her own personal experience of auricular con-
fession. After some further remarks, Mr. Neill
was requested to read the following letter, sent by
the lady lecturer to Archbishop Yaughan : — *
' No. 259 Kent Street, Sydney. 12th of April,
1878. To his Grace, Archbishop Yaughan. May
it please your Grace : — I have for a considerable
time past been very desirous of bringing a most
painful subject under your notice, and which has
caused me considerable pain. Yarious reasons
have prevented my doing so until now, and it is
only when I perceive the object of my complaint
apparently unpunished for his conduct, which I
heard has been the case, I determined upon appeal-

272 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

ing to you, feeling sure of obtaining redress. About
the year 1876, I resided in Clarence street, in this
city, and while suffering from severe illness was
visited by Father Sheridan, of St. Mary's, as also
by Father Maher. From the former I received the
last rites of the Church, as I was supposed to be on
my dying-bed. Half an hour after Father Sheri-
dan had left me, Father Maher called upon me,
and insisted upon performing the service upon me,
which I declined. There was a bottle containing
brandy on the table, and by its side a tumbler con-
taining a small quantity of castor oil for my use.
Father Maher wished for some of the spirits, and
my husband, who was in the room, requested him
to help himself. He did so, using the tumbler that
contained the medicine, and finding the mistake,
he had emptied some more of the spirits into a
clean tumbler, and drank it. He then desired my
husband to leave the room.. He then came to my
bedside professedly to administer the rites of the
Church to me, and I remonstrated with him, when
he laid violent hands upon me, and made most im-
proper overtures to me. In my struggles to resist,
my night- dress Avas much torn. He assured me
that no harm would be done to me ii I did comply
with his terrible device (Cries of Oh ! Oh!) saying
what he did was under the holy orders, and would

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 273

not be held as a sin by the Church, or words to
that effect. (Sensation.) I, at length, found
strength to call my husband ; and, on his appear-
ing, Father Maher was forced to leave the room. I
was fearful in telling my husband all that happened,
as I felt sure he would use violence to Father
Maher. Since the occurrence, I was apprised that he
had been suspended for some other cause, and that
it was useless my taking steps in the matter. But
as, within the present month, I have seen him pass-
ing my door dressed in a priest's usual garb, and it
being evident to me that he is still under some con-
trol, I have determined upon making the complaint
he so richly deserves. I write to add that when
my husband drove him off the premises, he (Father
Maher) had become quite intoxicated with the
spirits he had taken. — I am, with much respect,
your Grace's humble servant, Margaret Ann
Dillon.' Mrs. Dillon then proceeded, at great
length, to relate minutely the facts of the affair-
stated in the letter, and how the Vicar-General
(Dean Sheridan) came to her place to hush up the
matter. In a long dialogue with the reverend
Dean, she asserted that he maintained that Arch-
bishop Vaughan had shed tears over her letter,
and that he (the Dean) had always known her to
be a good woman. In reply to a question, the

274 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Dean told her that ' once a priest always a priest ;T
hut she rejoined, ' once in infamy, always in in-
famy.' Subsequently, a priest called on her, and
asked her why she did not go to church. She ex-
plained that, having three children to take care of,
she could not go. Once, a priest saw the Protes-
tant Bible with some other books on her table, and
he said to her, ' I see you have got some heretical
books here ; you must take them and burn them. '
She said she would not do so; and he said, 'If you
■do not give me those books, I will not give you ab-
solution.' She said she did not care, and he left
the place. The lady then read from Dens' Theol-
ogy, Vol. VI. , page 305, as to the doctrines of the
confessional. She maintained that the priest lik-
ened themselves to God in the confessional-box, but
outside of it they were only men. She would not
give utterance to the filthy language that she had
been subject to hear and reply to by the, priest in
the confessional-box. Not only herself, but her
daughter could bear witness to the abominations of
the confessional. She had been married twice, and
shortly after her first husband's death she sent her
daughter to confession. The priest told her daugh-
ter that her dead father, who had been a Protestant,
was a heretic, and was in hell. . She urged that
Catholic women ought not to send their children to

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 275

oe insulted and degraded by the confessional. She
hoped they would keep their children away from it,
for the priests put questions to them suggesting
wickedness of the grossest description, and filling
their minds with carnal thoughts for the first time
in their lives. (Cheers.) She would strongly
advise all Roman Catholic men not to allow priests
to remain alone with their wives. Napoleon
adopted a scheme by which he would himself frame
the questions to be put to his son in the confess-
ional. If Napoleon was so careful of his son, how
much more so must those be in a humbler sphere
•of life. Mrs. Dillon, then, read extracts from
Dens' Theology and other text-books, which she
claimed to be the standard works of the Roman
Catholic Church, to refute Mrs. Constable's allega-
tions. Her experience, as well as that of many
others, clearly proved that the cause of the major-
ity of the large numbers of girls on the streets arose
from the abominable questions they have to reply
to in the confessional-box. (Cheers.) Not only
were the majority of these girls Catholics, but our
hospitals and charitable institutions are filled with
those whose early life had been degraded in the
confessional. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, Mrs.
Dillon touched on the sacrament question, assert-
ing that the priests take good care to drink the

276 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

wine — the blood of Christ, — and the people had
the lozenge, — the body of Christ. (Laughter.)
Mrs. Dillon resumed her seat amid tumultuous
cheering. Frequently her remarks created great
sensation and rounds of applause. The Rev. Pas-
tor Allen read a letter sent that night to the lady
lecturer, containing an extract from the S. M. Her*
aid, published four years ago, about the punish
ment of an Abbe for unpriestly conduct to four
young ladies in the confessional. A hearty vote of
thanks was passed to the lady lecturer, and a simi-
lar honor was accorded to Mr. Neill, for presiding.
The benediction and the singing of the National
Anthem closed the proceedings about half-past nine
o'clock.

Has the world ever seen any act more disgust-
ingly corrupt than that priest's? Who will not be
struck with horror at the sight of that confessor,
who struggles with his dying penitent, snd tears
her night-dress, when she is on her sick bed, to
satisfy his vile propensities ?

What an awful spectacle is here presented, by
the hands of Providence, before the eyes of a
Christian people ! A dying woman obliged to
fight and struggle against her confessor, to keep
her purity and honor intact ! Her night-robes torn,
by the beastly priest of Rome !

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 277

Let the Americans who like to know more pre-
cisely what is going on between the father confess-
ors and their female penitents in the United States,
go to the beautiful town of Malone, in the State of
New York. There, they will see, by the public
records of the court, how Father McNully seduced
his fair penitent, Miss McFarlane, who was board-
ing with him, and of whom he was the teacher.
They will see that the enraged parents of the young
lady prosecuted him and got a verdict of $2,129
for damage, which he refused to pay. He was incar-
cerated— broke his gaol, went to Canada, where he
was welcomed by the bishops and employed among
the confessors of the Irish girls of the Dominion !

Do not the echoes of the whole world still repeat
the horrors of the Cracow Nunnery in Austria?
In spite of the superhuman efforts of the Roman
Cathoiic press to suppress or deny the truth, has it
not been proved by the evidence that the unfortu-
nate Nun Barbary Ubryk was found absolutely
naked in a most horrible, dark, damp, and filthy
dungeon, where she had been kept by the nuns
because she had refused to live their life of infamy
with their Father Confessor Pankiewiez. And has
not that miserable priest corroborated all that
was brought to his charge, by putting an end
himself, like Judas, to his own infamous life ?

278 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

I have met, in Montreal, a nephew of the Nun
Barbara Ubryk, who was in Cracow when his aunt
was found in her horrible danger. He not only
corroborated all what the press had said about the
tortures of his near relation and their cause, but he-
publicly gave up the Church of Rome, whose confes-
sional he knew personally, are schools of perdition.

I visited Chicago for the first time in 1851, at the
pressing request of Bishop Vandevelde. It was to
cover Illinois, as much as we could, with Roman
Catholics from Canada, France, and Belgium, that
we might put that splendid State, which was then
a kind of wilderness, under the control of the
Church of Rome. I then inquired from a priest
about the particulars of the death of the late
Bishop. That priest had no reasons whatever to>
deceive me and concede the truth, and it was with
an evidently distressed mind that he gave the fol-
lowing details, which he assured me, were the
exact, though very sad, truth :

" The Grand Yicar, M . . . , had fallen in love
with his beautiful penitent, the accomplished Nun,
. . . . , Superioress of the Convent of Lorette. The
consequence was that to conceal her fall, she went,
under the pretext of recruiting her health, to a
western city, where she soon died when giving;
birth to a dead-born child."

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 27$

Though these mysteries of iniquity had been, as
much as possible, kept secret, enough of them had
come to the ears of the Bishop to induce him to
tell the confessor that he was obliged to make
inquiry about his conduct, and that, if found guilty,
he would be interdicted. That priest boldly and
indignantly denied his guilt ; and said that he was
glad of that inquiry. For he boasted that he was
sure to prove his innocence. But after more ma-
ture deliberation, he changed his mind. In order
to save his bishop the troubles of that inquiry, he
administered to him a dose of poison which re-
lieved him from the miseries of life, after five or
six days of suffering, which the doctors took for a
common disease ! ! !

Auricular confession ! These are some of thy
mysteries !

The people of Detroit, Michigan, have not yet
forgotten that aimable priest who was the confessorr
"& la mode," of the young and old Roman Catho-
lic ladies. They all remember still, the dark night
during which he left for Belgium, with one of his
most beautiful penitents, and $4,000 which he had
taken from the purse of his Bishop Lefebvre, to
pay his traveling expenses. And, who, in that
same city of Detroit does not still sympathize with
that young doctor whose beautiful wife eloped with.

280 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

her father confessor, in order, we must charitably
suppose, to be more benefited when in the constant
company of her spiritual and holy (?) physician.

Let my readers come with me to Bourbonnais
Grove, and there, every one will show them the
son whom the Priest Courjeault had from one of
his fair penitents.

Week-kneed Protestants ! who are constantly
speaking of peace, peace, with Pome, and who
keep yourselves humbly prostrated at their feet, in
order to sell them your wares, or get their suffrages,
do you not understand your supreme degradation ?

Do not answer to us that these are exceptional
oases, for I am ready to prove that this unspeaka-
ble degradation and immorality are the, normal
state of the greater part of the priests of Pome.
Father Hyacinthe has publicly declared, ^that
ninety-nine out of one hundred of them, live in sin
with the females they have destroyed. And not
only the common priests are, for the greater part,
sunk in that bottomless pit of secret or public
infamy, but the bishops and popes, with the cardi-
nals, are no better.

Who does not know the history of that inter-
esting young girl of Armidale, Australia, who,
lately, confessed to her distracted parents, that her
reducer had been no less than a bishop ! And

WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 281

when the enraged father prosecuted the bishop for
damages, is it not a public fact that he got £350
from the Pope's bishop, with the condition that he
would emigrate with his family, to San Francisco,
where this great iniquity might be concealed ! But,
unfortunately for the criminal confessor, the girl
gave birth to a little bishop, before she left, and I
can give the name of the priest who baptized the
child of his own holy (?) and venerable (?) bishop.

Will the people of Australia ever forget the his-
tory of Father Nihills, who was condemned to
three years in the penitentiary, for an unmention-
able crime with one of his penitents ?

This brings to my mind the deplorable end of
Father Cahill, who cut his own throat not long
ago, in New England, to escape the prosecution of
the beautiful girl whom he had seduced. Who has
not heard of that grand Vicar of Boston, who,
about three ago, poisoned himself to escape the
sentence which was to be hurled against him the
very next day, by the Supreme Court, for having
6educed one of his fair penitents?

Has not all France been struck with horror and
confusion at the declarations made by the noble
Catherine Cadiere and her numerous young female
friends, against their father confessor, the Jesuit,
John B. Girard? The details of the villainies

282 THE PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

practiced by that holy (?) father confessor and his
coadjutors, with their fair penitents, are such, that
no Christian pen can retrace them, and no Chris-
tian reader would consent to have them put before
his eyes.

If this chapter was not already long enough, I
would say how Father Achazius, superior of a
nunnery in Duren, France, used to sanctify the
young and old ladies who confessed to him. The
number of his victims was so great, and their ranks
in society so exalted, that Napoleon thought it was
his duty to take that scandalous aifair before him.

The way this holy (?) father confessor used to
lead the noble girls, married women, and nuns, of
the territory of Aix-la-Chapelle, was revealed by a
young nun who had escaped from the snares of the
priest, and married a superior officer in the army
of the Emperor of France. Her husband thought
it his duty to direct the attention of Napoleon to
the performances of that priest, through the con-
fessional. But the investigations which were direc-
ted by the State Counsellor, Le Clerq, and the
Professor Gall, were compromising so many other
priests, and so many ladies in the highest ranks of
society, that the Emperor was absolutely disheart-
ened, and feared that their exposure before the
whole of France, would cause the people to renew

THE PEIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 283-

the awful slaughters of 1792 and 1793, when thirty
thousand priests, monks and nuns, had been merci-
lessly hung, or shot dead, as the most implacable
enemies of public morality and liberty. In those
days, that ambitious man was in need of the priests
to forge the fetters by which the people of France
would be securely tied to the wheels of his chariot.

He abruptly ordered the court of investigation
to stop the inquiry, under the pretext of saving
the honor of so many families, whose single and
married females had been seduced by their confes-
sors. He thought that prudence and shame were
urging him not to lift up more of the dark and
thick veil, behind which the confessors conceal
their hellish practices with their fair penitents.
He found it was enough to confine Father Achazius
and his co-priests in a dungeon for their lives.

But if we turn our eyes from the humble confes-
sor priests to the monsters whom the Church of
Rome adores as the vicars of Jesus Christ — the
supreme Pontiffs — the Popes, do we not find hor-
rors and abominations, scandals and infamies,
which surpass everything which is done by the
common priests behind the impure curtains of the
confessional-box ?

Does not Cardinal Baronius himself, tell us that
the world has never seen anything comparable to>

284 THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

the impurities and unmentionable vices of a great
number of popes?

Do not the annals of the Church of Rome give
us the history of that celebrated prostitute of
Rome, Marozia, who lived in public concubinage
with the Pope Sergius III., whom she raised to the
so-called chair of St. Peter ? Had she not also, by
that Pope a son, of whom she also made a pope
after the death of his holy (?) father, Pope Sergius ?

Did not the same Marozia and her sister, Theo-
dora, put on the pontifical throne another one of
their lovers, under the name of Anastasius III.,
who was soon followed by John X. ? And is it not
a public fact, that that pope having lost the con-
fidence of his concubine Marozia, was strangled by
her order ? Is it not also a fact of public notoriety,
that his follower, Leo YL, was assassinated by her,
for having given his heart to another woman, still
more degraded ?

The son whom Marozia had by Pope Sergius,
was elected pope, by the influence of his mother,
under the name of John XL, when not sixteen
years old! But having quarrelled with some of
the enemies of his mother, he was beaten and sent
to gaol, where he was poisoned and died.

In the year 936, the grandson of the prostitute
Marozia, after several bloody encounters with his

THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 285-

opponents, succeeded in taking possession of the
pontifical throne under the name of John XII.
But his vices and scandals became so intolerable,
that the learned and celebrated Koman Catholic
Bishop of Cremorne, Luitprand, says of him: —
"No honest lady dared to show herself in public,
for the Pope John had no respect either for single
girls, married women, or widows — they were sure
to be defiled by him, even on the tombs of the
holy apostles, Peter and Paul.

That same John XII. was instantly killed by a
gentleman, who found him committing the act of
adultery with his wife.

It is a well-known fact that Pope Boniface VII.
had caused John XIV. to be imprisoned and
poisoned, and when he soon after died, the people
of Kome dragged his naked body through the
streets, and left it, when horribly mutilated, to be
eaten by dogs, if a few priests had not secretly
buried him.

Let the readers study the history of the cele-
brated Council of Constance, called to put an end
to the great schism, during which three popes, and
sometimes four, were every morning cursing each
other and calling their opponents Antichrists, de-
mons, adulterers, sodomists, murderers, enemies of
God and man.

286 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

As every one of them was an infallible pope, ac-
cording to the last Council of the Vatican, we are
bound to believe that they were correct in the com-
pliments they paid to each other.

One of these holy (?) popes, John XXIII., haw
ing appeared before the Council to give an account
of his conduct, he was proved by thirty-seven wit-
nesses, the greater part of whom were bishops and
priests, of having been guilty of fornication, adul-
tery, incest, sodomy, simony, theft, and murder.
It was proved also by a legion of witnesses, that
he had seduced and violated 300 nuns. His own
secretary, Niem, said that he had at Boulogne,
kept a harem, where not less than 200 girls had
been the victims of his lubricity.

And what could we not say of Alexander VI. ?
That monster who lived in public incest with his
two sisters and his own daughter Lucretia, from
whom he got a child.

But I stop — I blush to be forced to repeat such
things. I would never have mentioned them were
it not necessary not only to put an end to the inso-
lence and the pretensions of the priests of Kome,
but also to make the Protestants remember why
their heroic fathers have made such great sacrifices
and fought so many battles, shed their purest blood
.and even died, in order to break the fetters by

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 287

"which they were bound to the feet of the priests
and the popes of Rome.

Let not my readers be deceived by the idea that
the popes of Rome in our days, are much better
than those of the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth
centuries. They are absolutely the same — the only
difference is that, to-day, they take a little more
care to conceal their secret orgies. For they know
well, that the modern nations, enlightened as they
are, by the light of the Bible, would not tolerate
the infamies of their predecessors ; tliey would hurl
them very soon into the Tiber, if they dared to re-
peat in the open day, the scenes of which the Alex-
anders, Stephens, Johns, &c. &c, were the heroes.

Go to Italy, and there the Roman Catholics
themselves will show you the two beautiful daugh-
ters whom the last pope, Pius IX., had from two
of his mistresses. They will tell you, too, the
names of live other mistresses — three of them
nuns — he had when a priest and a bishop ; some of
them are still living.

Inquire from those who have personally known
Pope Gregory XVI., the predecessor of Pius IX.,
and after they will have given you the history of
his mistresses, one of whom was the wife of his
barber, they will tell you that he was one of the
greatest drunkards in Italy!

288 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Who has not heard of the bastard, whom Cardi-
nal Antonelli had from Countess Lambertini ? Has
not the suit of that illegitimate child of the great
cardinal secretary filled Italy and the whole world
with shame and disgust ?

However, nobody can be surprised that the
priests, the bishops, and the popes of Borne are
sunk into such a bottomless abyss of infamy, when
we remember that they are nothing else than the
successors of the priests of Bacchus and Jupiter.
For not only have they inherited their powers, but
they have even kept their very robes and mantles
on their shoulders, and their caps on their heads.
Like the priests of Bacchus, the priests of the Pope
are bound never to marry, by the impious and god-
less laws of celibacy. For every one knows that
the priests of Bacchus were, as the priests of Koine,
celibates. But, like the priests of the Pope, the
priests of Bacchus, to console themselves for the
restraints of celibacy, had invented auricular con-
fession. Through the secret confidences of the
confessional, the priests of the old idols, as well as
those of the newly-invented wafer gods, knew who,
were strong and weak among their fair penitents*
and under the veil " of the sacred mysteries," dur-
ing the night celebration of their diabolical mys*
teries, they knew to whom they should address

JHE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 289

themselves, and make their vows of celibacy an
easy yoke.

Let those who want more information on that
subject read the poems of Juvenal, Propertius, and
Tibellus. Let t'he'm peruse all the historians of old
Rome, and they will see the perfect resemblance
which exists between the priests of the Pope and
those of Bacchus, in reference to the vows of cel-
ibacy, the secrets of auricular confession, celebra-
tion of the so-called " sacred mysteries," and the
unmentionable moral corruption of the two systems
of religion. In fact, when one reads the poems of
Juvenal, he thinks he has before him the books of
Dens, Liguori, Lebreyne, Kenrick.

Let us hope and pray that the day may soon*
come when God will look in His mercy upon this
perishing world * and then, the priests of the wafer-
gods, with their mock celibacy, their soul-destroy-
ing auricular confession and their idols will be swept
away.

In that day Babylon — the great Babylon will fall,
and heaven and earth shall rejoice.

For the nations will no more go and quench their
thirst at the impure cisterns dug for them by the
man of sin. But they will go and wash their robes in
the blood of the Lamb ; and the Lamb will make them
pure by His blood, and free by His word. Amen.

CHAPTEK XII.

A CHAPTER FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATORS,
HUSBANDS, AND FATHERS. SOME OF THE MAT-
TERS ON WHICH THE PRIEST OF ROME MUST QUES-
TION HIS PENITENTS

DENS wants the confessors to interrogate on the
following matters : —
1 " Peccant uxores, quae susceptum viri semen
ejiciunt, vel ejicere conantur.*' (Bens, torn, vii.,
p. 147.)

2. " Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si, copula
incept^, cohibeant seminationem. "

3. " Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an fem-
ina lethaliter peccat, si se retrahat a seminando ;
aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando semina-
tionem uxoris." (P. 153.)

4. "Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum con-
jugriom. Debet servari modus, sive situs ; imo ut
non servetur debitum vas, sed copula habeatur in
vase prsepostero, aliquoque non naturali. Si fiat

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 291

accedendo a postero, a latere, stando, sedendo, vel
si vir sit succumbus." (P. 166. )

5. " Impotentia est incapacitas perficiendi, cop-
nlum carnalem perfectam cum seminatione viri in
vase debito seu, de se, aptam generationi. Yel, ut
si mulier sit nimis areta respectu unius viri, non
respectu alterins." (Yol. vii., p. 273.)

6. ' ' Notatur quod pollutio in mulieribus possit
perfici, ita ut semen earum nou effluat extra mem-
brum genitale.

u Indicium istius allegat Billuart, si scilicet
mulier sensiat seminis resolutionem cum magno
voluptatis sensu, qua completa, passio satiatur."
(Yol. iv., p. 168.)

7. " Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod
negaverit debitum, interrogetur an ex pleno rigore
juris sui id petiverit." (Yol. vii., p. 168.)

8. "Confessor pcenitentem, qui confitetur se
pecasse cum sacerdote, vel sollicitatam ab eo ad
turpia, potest interrogare utrum ille sacerdos sit
ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollitavefit. "'
(Yol. vi., p. 294.)

There are a great many other unmentionable
things on which Dens, in his fourth, fifth and sev-
enth volumes, requires the confessor to ask his
penitent, which I omit.

Now let us come to Liguori. That so-called

292 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

Saint, Liguori, is not less diabolically impure than
Dens, in his questions to the women. But I will
cite only two of the things on which the spiritual
physician of the Pope must not fail to examine his
spiritual patient : —

1. "Quserat an sit semper mortale, sivirim-
mitat pudenda in os uxoris ?

" Verius affirmo quia, in hoc actu ob calorem
oris, adest proximum periculum pollutionis, et vid-
etur nova species luxurise contra naturam, dicta
irruminatio. "

2. " Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de
mortali, qui, in actu copulse, immiteret dignitum in
vas praeposterum nxoris ; quia, ut ait, in hoc actu
adest affectus ad Sodomiam." (Liguori, torn, vi.,
p. 935.)

The celebrated Burchard, Bishop of Worms, has
made a book of the questions which had to be put
by the confessors to their penitents of both sexes.
During several centuries it was the standard book
of the priests of Kome. Though that work to-day
is very scarce, Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, &c, &c,
have ransacked its polluting pages, and given them
to study to the modern confessors, in order to ques-
tion their penitents. I will select only a few ques-
tions of the Roman Catholic Bishop to the young
men : —

THE PKIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL 293

1. " Fecisti solus tecum fornication em ut quidam
facere solent ; ita dico ut ipse tuum membrum
virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic duceres
praeputium tuum, et manu propria commoveres, ut
sic, per illam delectationem semen projiceres ?"

2. " Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra
coxes ; ita dicto ut tuum virile membrum intra coxas
alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen funderes V

3. "Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidem facere
solent, ut tuum virile membrum in lignum perfora-
tum, aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres, et, sic, per
illam commotionem et delectationem semen proji-
«ceres ? ' '

4. " Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id
<est, cum masculis vel animalibus coire, id est cum
•equo, cum vacca, vel asina, vel aliquo animali ? ' '
{Vol. L, p. 136.)

Among the questions we find in the compend-
ium of the Right "Rev. Burchard, Bishop of Worms,
which must be put to women, are the following (p.
115):—

1. " Fecisti quod qusedem mulieres solent, quod-
4am molimen, aut machinamentum in modum viri-
lis membri ad mensbram tuae voluptatis, et illud
lodo verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus
ligaturiSjUtfornacationem facereres cum aliis mulieri-
3)us, vel alia eodem instrumento, sive alio tecum ? "

294 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

2. " Fecisti quod quaedem mulieres facere sole^l
ut jam supra dicto molimine, vel alio aliquo niacin-
namento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres fornica-
tionem? "

3. " Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent,
quando libidinem se vexantem exinguere volunt,
quae se conjungunt quasi coire debeant ut possint,
et conjungunt invicem puerperia sua, et sic, fri-
cando pruritum illarum extinguere desiderant? "

4. ' ' Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent,
ut succumberes aliquo jumento et illiud jumentuin
ad coitum quolicumque posses ingenio, ut sic coiret
tecum ? "

The celebrated Debr^yne has written a whole
book, composed of the most incredible details of
impurities, to instruct the young confessors in the
art of questioning their penitents. The name of
the book is " Moechialogy, " or " Treaty on all the
sins against the sixth (seventh) and the ninth com-
mandments, as well as on all the questions of the
married life which refer to them."

That work is much approved and studied in the
Church of Rome. I do not know that the world
has ever seen anything comparable to the filthy and
infamous details of that book. I will cite only two
of the questions which Debreyne wants the con-
fessor to put to his penitent : —

THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL. 295

Of the young men (page 95) the confessor will
ask : —

" Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se
tetigerent, quando tempore et quo fine se tetigerint ;
An tunc quosdam motus in corpore experti fuerint,
et per quantum temporis spatium ; an cessantibus
taetibus, nihil insolitum et turpe accideret ; an non
longe majorem in compore voluptatem perceperint
in fine tactuum quam in eorum principio ; an turn
in fine quando magnam delectationem carnalem
sensuerunt, omnes motus corporis cessaverint; an
non madefacti fuerint? " &c, &c.

Of the girl the confessor will ask: —

"Quae sese tetegisse fatentur, an non aliquem
puritum extinguere entaverint, et utrum pruritus
ille cessaverit cam magnum senserint voluptatem ;
an tunc, ipsimet tactus cessaverint ?" &c, &c.

The Right Rev. Kenrick, late Bishop of Boston,
United States, in his book for the teaching of con-
fessors on what matters they must question their
penitents, has the following, which I select among
thousands as impure and damnable to the soul and
body: —

" Uxor quae, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non
yecipiat semen, vel statim post illud acceptum sur-
git ut expellatur, lethalitur peccat ; sed opus non
est ut diu resupina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi,

296 THE PRIEST, WOMAN AND CONFESSIONAL.

semen attraliat, et mox, arctissime claudatur. '*
(Yol. Hi.', p. 317.)

" Pullae patienti licet se vertere, et conari ut non
recipiat semen, quod injuria ei immittitur ; sed,
exceptum, non licet expellere, quia jam possess-
ionem paciflcam liabet, et liaud absque injuria
naturae ejiceretur." (Tom. iii., p. 317.)

" Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpa,,
licet contingat semen extra vas effundi; id enim
per accidens fit ex imfirmitate naturae. Quod si
vdres adeo sint fractae ut nullo sit seminandi intra
vas sp^s, jam nequeunt jure conjugii uti." (Tom.
iii., p. 317.)

BX

2267

.C5

1887

Chiniquy, Charles Paschal
Telesphore, 1809-1899.
The priest, the woman and the
confessional

— ~